Merry Christmas to all!!

I know I am a few days late, but.....

This Christmas had to be one of the funnest I have had. My mother in law and sister in law are night nurses at University of Maryland. It was their holiday to work, so we decided that we would have Christmas on Wednesday.

For a suprise, we decided that we would take the kids to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA. ( We had gone there a month before Jake was born and the kids really liked it. ) We slipped a few times, but the kids didn't catch on. We were even lucky enough to have Mom Mom invite the girls over for a sleepover on Saturday night, so I could pack so the girls wouldn't realize what was up. When we got to GWL we turned in and said Merry Christmas. It took the girls 30 seconds, then Madi let out a scream then Rachel followed. The girls both kept saying "thank you for the Christmas Present!"

Madison was able to go on the body slides by herself this time. She LOVED it! Both the girls had fun going on the family raft slide. Scott had fun going on the Tornado ride. It was really fun! Jake loved going on the baby slide by HIMSELF....

When he wasn't on the slide, he kept saying B Ball B Ball B Ball. He loves basketball!



Overall it was fun. During the evening storytime, they had a part where it "snowed" in the lobby of the lodge. I feel silly, but for a second, I found myself tearing up! It was really neat to see all the kids (and adults) getting excited to see these bubbly foam coming from the rafters!

Then today, we got to have Christmas with the family! I always enjoy family time. I am so greatful that I married such a great family. Since I cannot be around my own family, its great that I have such caring and fun inlaws! We even had a twister tournament! Such a fun day!

The only thing that I am not looking forward to is the clean up! My in laws were very generous to the kids... and us too! I am not looking forward to putting everything away....oh well, whats a few more days!

Merry Christmas to all...I hope you had a great Christmas!

Hey, Do you like Flock of Seagulls?

No, but I can tell you do!


Jake wakes up with some pretty interesting hair do's, but this one takes the cake!

Madison had her Christmas party at preschool today. They brought the parents in and sang some Christmas songs to them. I was sad, because when Rachel was in preschool, Santa came and all the little kids got to sit on his lap when the parents were there. This year, Santa came before the parents came back. Oh well. Madison was excited, she said, "Mom, I wasn't afraid this year. She is the one in the middle, wearing the pants. All the other little girls were wearing their cute dresses, but Madison had to wear jeans. She's crazy, but I love her!

Haircuts...check em out!

Today was a half day for Rachel, so we thought we would go get the kids hair cut. There is a Madison Institute that Madison wanted to go to. Since the haircuts were only 5 bucks for a shampoo, cut, and blow dry, we couldn't pass it up. Jake had a tough time. He didn't want to sit still. I think I went through a half a pack of orange tic tacs trying to keep him quiet!

After getting her hair shampooed, Madison walked on about 6 feet of air back to her chair. She thought she was hot stuff! What can I say...if you look at her hair cut I think you might agree with her. :-)

Rachel was kind of slouched in her chair, so when the instructor came to check her hair out, she noticed the girl had cut her hair a little shorter on one side. After evening it up, I think she looked good too!

18 months already?!

Jake turned 18 months last Monday, so today he was able to go to Nursery at church. He went in without looking back. Scott said he was playing with toys when he left. But... about 20 minutes later the Nursery leader brought him to us in tears. He must have realized Scott had left. Anyway... maybe we'll get 25 next week. He's so big. I don't know were the last year and a half went!

Merry Christmas to me...a little early!

My sister in law, Stacey, bought me this beautiful mixer for Christmas...and she gave it to me early! I know it will help with all those Christmas cookies I **should** make.

I made my first batch of cookies with the mixer today... Guess who I caught sneaking again! I think that this wasn't the only one he snuck, because right before dinner he got a sore tummy and threw up...lots of cookies! I think the mixer made the cookies taste better!

Its a win!

Rachel played her first indoor soccer game today. She had a lot of fun. She is just getting over being sick, but she played her heart out. The team is a U8 girls team. All the little girls had red cheeks from playing so hard. As you can see from the picture, they won 4 - 1. Rachel is the little blue blip in the middle.

Rachel, before her first practice, said that she liked indoor soccer better than outside soccer. Scott questioned why she liked it better because she hadn't ever played indoor soccer. She said she liked indoor soccer better because it didn't get cancelled for rain or bad weather. Funny at their reasoning!

All I want for Chrithmath

Is my two front teeth! Rachel finally lost the second front tooth. For a while there, she looked like Nanny McPhee, because her tooth had shifted to the middle and was kind of crooked.

Rub a dub dub

Three kids in the tub!

New York!

Yesterday, I went to New York. My friend, Christy, and I went with the Westminster Riding Club on a chartered bus! It was a lot of fun. I was able to see my friend, Karen, from high school. It was nice to catch up. We went to Chinatown, had lunch in Little Italy, and got to see the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular! It was really good! The only thing that was a little crazy was that they were going to lite the Christmas tree at Rockafeller Center, so there was a ton of people!

Next fall, I hope that my Aunt Mary and her family and mom can come down and we all can go together! There was so much going on! Much more to see than we had time for!

Mascara anyone?

Madison and I were bonding the other morning...actually she was watching me put on my make up, so I thought I would put a little mascara on her. This morning while I was checking my email she wandered upstairs. When I came to find her, I found this....

She also had put on my purfume and my deoderant! Fun! The teenage years should be fun!

Candy Goodness

We had such a fun day yesterday! First, the kids (Jake and Madi) got up with Rachel (not to fun for me!) So we decided that we would start our day early...usually I try to put it off till 10 or 11. Because we started our day off so early, we had a lot of spare time. We decided we would suprise Rachel and have lunch with her. She was really suprised to see us. I will have to do it again....I think we will have to go on a Friday and have school lunch (pizza) with her. I loved school lunch pizza when I was a kid.

Then, Stacey suprised the kids by coming over for Halloween. Rachel said "I got 2 surprises today. Mommy, Madi and Jake for lunch and now Stacey." I love to see excitement in the kids.

We then went trick or treating. We walked around Othello and Juliet and then we dropped Jake back at the house and went for "real" trick or treating. We have always just stayed on our streets to trick or treat, but Madi and Rachel were so into it this year. Stacey and I drove over to the Greens ( a big neighborhood/community about a mile away) and they went trick or treating for another 45 minutes. I have never seen so many kids before! We will have to do it again next year! Here is a picture of every childs post trick or treating ritual...surveying the goodies they just got!

Trunk or Treat

Our ward has a Trunk or Treat party every year. The kids really enjoy it. They have fun trick or treating twice!

Madison and Rachel were a Barbie Cheerleader and a cat!

Jake was Bam Bam. He didn't want to put on his costume at first, but now Scott is trying to take it off and he doesn't want to take it off. (He must have know I put love in every stitch...lol) He loved the bat! He got his Dad a good one on the way to church!

All I want for Crithmath is my...

Rachel lost her front tooth in the bathtub a couple of days ago! I went into the bathroom and Rachel is sitting with her hands over her mouth with blood coming out from between her fingers. She said she had put a plastic bath toy in her mouth and Madison has pulled it out of her mouth really hard...and out came her tooth! It had been bothering her for a while, so she was glad to have it out!

Wow! What a week!

We have had such a fun week or so! First of all, Aunt Mary came to visit. She is always fun to be with. What I will remember most is that she taught the kids to have screaming contests. Then we discovered the swap shop. My friend Laura has said that she has gone and found some great finds, so Aunt Mary and I decided to see what "treasures" we could find. The price was just right!

Madison and Rachel both had fieldtrips. Madi went to the pumpkin patch and Rachel got to go to the nature center. I was privledged to get to go with both of them!

The girls were in the Primary presentation. They both had a solo and a speaking part. They did fantastic. Madi was cute, she kept giving me the thumbs up from the stand. Most of the family got to come and see them. They all came back to our house after and carved pumpkins. It was lots of fun. Great family togetherness!

Little Miss Soccer!

I don't have a picture...the one game I don't bring it with me....but Rachel scored her first goal of the season on Saturday!!!!! GO RACHEL!

The Pumpkin Patch

Madison and I went to the pumpkin patch today with her preschool. She had a lot of fun. She got to go through a kiddie hay maze and a petting zoo. At the end we both got pumpkins. Lots and lots of fun! Not a bad way to spend Friday the 13th !

Randomness

Wow! It's been a while since we last posted. Our days have been filled with school, homework, soccer and piano...the time sure flies!

Anyway....Jacob has a new hobby. He likes to wear the girls dress up shoes and vacuum with the kiddie vac. It's hilarious to watch. I can never seem to get my camera in time. Here is a picture with him and his favorite vacuum.

Rachel having a fun time with soccer. The weather has been less than desirable the past couple Saturdays, but she still has a good time.

Madison is doing great in preschool. She can recognize all her numbers from 1-20 and only mixes up her lower case b/d/p/q and g. The teacher says it is totally normal. She is liking preschool a lot more this year. I asked the teacher how she was doing socially. She said that she talks and plays with everyone. I guess her "Social Butterfly" t - shirt fits her to a tee. I am exited to go on her first fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch on Friday. (It's only supposed to be 50 degrees!)

Overall....just getting into a groove now with school a month and a half under our belts... A sad thought...for me anyway.... We were sitting at the table last night and I realized that I will not be able to sleep in durning the school year for the next 17 years....6:45 for the next 8 years and 5 Am for the next 9... Scott said I would just have to look forward to the summers like the kids do. I guess I will have to learn to embrace the mornings....it will probably take me 16 years to do that!

Guess who's feeling a little blue today....

Yes...Jake is feeling a little blue! This is what happens when you leave Jake upstairs in the kitchen while you go downstairs to start some laundry. The girls were coloring and I think they gave him a marker and a coloring sheet. I guess Jake wanted to see how the marker would taste. BOYS!!!!

A Smile!!

Rachel brought home her pictures from school today. The first thing she said was that she HAD smiled this year. Last year, she had this very pensive/serious look on her face. When I asked her why she did not smile, she said that the photographer had taken her picture to fast. I made sure I wrote on the order envelope to please wait for her to smile! I think they they turned out quite nicely this year!

What a crazy day...

and its only 10 am! Today started off with a quick start. Something told me to put on my glasses and see what time it was. I looked and it was 6:56. We normally get up at 6:45. The alarm clock got bumped off the nightstand, so it must have gotten turned off. So we had 14 minutes to get Rachel up, dressed and fed before she had to be at the bus stop. It was a little rushed, but all was well. Scott told her she could have a rice krispie treat for breakfast...after all it was cereal!

Then we had Madison's 4 year check up today...the shot visit. The doctor said she was great.She said she usually tries to find something to tell her patients so they can feel like they can take something away from the appt but she said Madison was Aokay! She did ,however, give us something else to take away from the appt...a flu shot for Jake. She said they had just gotten them in yesterday and since he was here....yadda yadda yadda... so he got a shot too! He was so happy till that point!

I figured since he already got poked for the day, I would go and get his 1 yr old blood work taken ( I have been putting it off since June!) We walked into LabCorp and saw how busy it was and walked right back out! Oh well, what's a little more procrastination!

So now we are home, dressed, and ready to go, and its only 10...this hasn't happend in a long time!

Fashionable even at 7:10 AM!

I think I have the next Stacey London (Host of What Not to Wear) on my hands. This is the outfit she wore to the bus stop this morning. It consisted of her Tweety bird pj's. Her dusty rose colored jacket Stacey bought her yesterday...and the piece de resistance...the blue scarf we found in the closet last night. She had to wear something around her neck...it was very cold this morning! Oh and don't forget the hot pink flip flops that she loves and wears everywhere! We all could use some fashion tips from Madison I think!

Gangsta Lean

Jake loves to dance to any kind of beat! At the ocean this weekend his dance moves were coined "gangsta lean." He plants his feet, leans to the side, wiggles his bum and bops to the beat. It cracks us up everytime he does it. Here he is doing the gangsta lean to the Doodlebops. If its got any kind of beat...he can dance to it!

It all begins...

Rachel officially started her homework routine for the first grade. I hope that you can see her first homework assignment. (I am not sure of the quality.)

It was so cute because she had to group the words into 3 catagories. She was trying to sort them by rhyming words and then by ending sounds. I felt bad telling her "not to think so hard" because they wanted them to be sorted according to the first letter/sound. I know I am biased, but she is as smart as a whip! I can't believe she is growing up so fast.

Ocean City

This weekend we were lucky enough to get to go to Ocean City. Mom Mom rented a condo on the ocean and we ALL to spend some quality time as a family. Everyone came...there were 10 of us there on Friday night.

On Saturday, we went to the boardwalk. In between dodging raindrops, the kiddies had fun riding rides and playing games. The girls ended up getting to pick prizes for 1100 tickets. We have never gotten that many tickets before. I think Mom Mom hit the jackpot with one of those push the quarters over games. They had lots of fun.

We went to the ocean, when it finally cleared on Saturday afternoon. The surf was very rough because of the storm further out. Scott and Kyle decided that they wanted to play in the waves, but found out after a short while that they a little to strong and came in. I was scared there for a while, because the surf kept taking them farther out from and down the beach.

Although, Jake found his way out of our condo and into another one and we almost had a heart attack, it was a lot of fun.

Just FYI, never ever got to Ocean City during bike week unless you are a motorcycler yourself. Those who stayed in the bedrooms close to the street said they dragged the main strip until 3 am and started up again about 7:30 am. LOUD!!!!

I think Mom Mom had the most fun at the ocean out of all of us...she found a new beau!

Anonymous #2

Okay then.... not to be rude...I know I have to know you...but if whomever is leaving these comments...if you don't sign them, I will change it so you cannot leave anonymous posts any longer!

Anonymous???

Hey - I've been reading some of the comments left...who is leaving comments as Anonymous?

BNL.....it's been a long time!

I love BNL! It seems like forever since Stacey and I have been to a concert. (I think it has been about a year, but I could be wrong.) But....since they released a new album on Tuesday....there's a new tour!!!! It's about time!

Stacey and I got front row for the D.C. show and 2nd row for the Philly show! YEAH ME!

WHAT !?!?!?

I feel like such a domestic goddess! I actually hemmed these pants for Rachel. Christy and Laura, you have inspired me. I actually doubled over the the fabric, so my hem wouldnt fray when it was washed. There were a few imperfections....but for the most part....I am feeling like a domestic goddess! Okay, moment over!

It's Soccer Time....Again!

I didn't get the greatest pictures this weekend, but here are a few I will share with you. Rachel had her first game on Friday, and her second on Saturday. The coach is really good this year about rotating the kids. Last year, we barely had enough to play the games, so Rachel would play 80 % of the time, if not more. This year they play 4 times for 5 minutes each. She got to play goalie in both games for 5 minutes each . On Friday, she made some great saves. On Saturday, however, the ball never came near the goal. She likes it. They are really teaching them this year about positions and spreading out, so it's not chaos like last year. She has fun!

Jake has a hard time staying off the field. During the game on Saturday, he kept wanting to take Rachel the ball. He loves his sister.

Madi wants to play next year. She could have made it this year, but her birthday was the cut off day so we decided to wait till next year! Should be fun....everyday will be Soccer day!

Madi's wish....

Today, while I was at church, Scott took the kids to Rachel's soccer practice. Scott noticed that Madison had an eyelash under her eye, so he told her to make a wish and blow the eyelash. She started to wish out loud and Scott told her to say it in her head so it would come true. She did and then blew the eyelash away. After a couple"Do you want to know what I wished for?" Scott said okay and Madi told him a GIANT ZAC EFRON ( Zac Efron is Troy in High School Musical and also "Madi's boyfriend"). Scott said he got a kick out of it, but then Madi kept coming up to him and asking if she had anymore eyelashes that she could wish on. At one point, Scott said it looked like she was trying to pull out her eyelashes. Crazy girl...I can't imagine what she would wish for if she had another eyelash....

Madison's 1st Day

Madison's first day started out with a bang... We got into the car at 11:50 (Madi has to be to school at 12) and the car wouldn't start. I then realize that I had left ALL the interior lights on last night and drained the battery! GREAT! I saw that our neighbor's dog walker was there so I ran over to her house and she said she could help, but she didn't have cables. Then I went to 3 more houses and finally found some cables. (Our cables were in Scott's truck!) Of course, all this time it was raining.

Madi got to school at 12:10 and then I had to rush to Jakes 15 month Dr's appt. Everything was fine after that. Madi had a great time at preschool. She said she really liked it and wanted to go back....much different then when she first went in January. She cried the first couple of weeks when I left. It ripped my heart out. She said that she got to hold the flag for her job that day! She can't wait till Friday!

Caught in the act!

Today I decided to make cookies. Scott is having a meeting tonight at the house and I thought it would be nice to have refreshments. So anyway....

Jake and I were sharing a cookie when the timer on the stove went off. I put him on the ground and went about taking the cookies out of the oven...you know what's involved in making cookies. I have my back to the table and I hear "hot, hot". I turned around to find that Jake had climbed up on the chair to the table and helped himself to one. What a little stinker... Thanks Mom Mom for wishing Scott would have a boy just like him!

The next time the timer went off, I made sure to push the chair in. By the time I was done with that batch, he had pulled the chair out enough that he could get up again!! Luckily, I got him before he got another cookie.

On other notes...Rachel is loving school. She got a little eraser from her ILA teacher for following the rules...she was on cloud nine. I get to go to Back to School night and volunteer training tonight. I am interested to see what they will be learning. Should be fun!

Madison got a check for $30.oo from Nana Sue for her birthday. We cashed it today, and she was so excited. She went to Wal Mart and bought two skirts that she has seen on a previous shopping trip and a teen magazine (bop). She is such a little DIVA!

1st Grade

Rachel started first grade this morning at 7:40 AM. We woke her up at 6:45, so she could make her bus at 7:15. As soon as I touched her, she popped up and said, "Do I get to go to school today?" She was so excited. I have never seen her so awake and chatterey. She was so excited. I just hope that she wakes up like this every morning! Yeah, Right! I hope she has a great day! I know she will...