An Accomplishment

For Madeline's birthday this year, she wanted a butterfly party. I didn't feel up to having a friend party so instead we had a family party. Grant's parents were able to come from Florida, my parents were there as well my sister and her husband. So to keep with the butterfly theme I researched on line to find a butterfly cake. I didn't want to pay money for someone to make a cake and so I researched and was able to find a cake. It definitely looked easier to make on line than in reality but after 4 hours I finished and I am pretty proud of myself. Madeline had a great party and when we sang happy birthday to her, her eyes lit up. It was so neat to see her excited about her birthday.

The cake I made for Madeline

Madeline, A Mother's Perspective

In my life I have been blessed by people whom I consider to be angels. These people have come into my life at a time when I needed it and have enriched my life in their own unique way. Madeline is that angel. Who came into my life at the right time and has blessed and continues to bless my life in unique ways.

When Madeline was born she came with a few suprises. The first few weeks were overwhelming as I and her father were getting a crash corse in medicine. Going to the hospital everyday was even overwhelming. It was overwhelming in the sense of having to see your daughter surrounded by cords, machines monitoring various parts of her body, and the fact that after a few hours I would have to put my daughter down and leave her at the hospital for another day. However, each day as I went to the hospital to sit by her bedside or to hold her in my arms my battery was charged with Madeline's love and once again I had the courage to leave the hospital and start over again the next day. The time Madeline was in the hospital at birth as well as the nurmerous hospital stays during her first year of life taught me many important life lessons:

1. I could not control what was happening to Madeline. As her mother I wanted to fix everything and when I couldn't fix it I wanted to jump in for her, but that wasn't meant to be. However, I learned there was something I could do. I could love her only as a mother can. The doctors have the expertise to heal Madeline physically but what they lacked is love-a mother's love. Finally there was something I could control. The doctors would do their part and I would do mine.

2. Every month for her first year we would find ourselves in the hospital for respiratory distress. This became burdensome and at times overwhelming. I remember sitting in the hospital room thinking of ways I could fix this problem so we could avoid these trips to the hospital, even if it meant living in a bubble. However, I learned yet again there are things that I cannot fix. This time I was taught from my favorite scripture, "Be Still and Know that I am God." Here I was fighting Heavenly Father trying to find ways to solve the solution I was in, when my only job was to sit back and be still. It was when I sat back and chose to be still a miracle happened my burden was lifted and in its place I found strength. We still took our monthly trips to the hospital but this time it was okay.

3. My final lesson I would like to mentioned came in a place you wouldn't think-The ER. We had just spent an hour of holding Madeline down for the nurses to stick Madeline for an IV and blood work. Well after that hour all that was achieved was the IV. Madeline at the time was a baby and it was so frustrating to watch your child go through so much pain. After the nurses were done I immediately picked her up to comfort her. As I was sitting there she looked up at me and smiled. I remember thinking how can you smile you just went though an hour of pain. Well the answer came. "You too can smile after every storm." Know matter our trials in life, we too can smile."

Now fast forward a few years and my angel is now four. She has overcome many trials with spunk and tenacity. She takes each day and lives it! Her trials and limitations do not get in her way. To me she embodies courage, strength, and determination. She still teaches me from "Mommy I can do it" to Heavenly Father will help me be brave. I am glad that Heavenly Father blessed me with this angel who indeed came into my life at the right time and my life will forever be riched by it.

Random Pictures

Here are some Random pictures of the kids. Anthony's gymnastics teacher retired. It was sad and Anthony was dissapointed that there wouldn't be anymore gymnastics, but he soon got over it when he started taking piano lessons. His gymnastics teacher was awesome and she absolutely loved what she was doing and you could tell each week. Anthony loved his teacher and was always excited to see her each week. His last week of gymnastics they had parent day, a day where the kids can show off what they have learned.

Anthony finished up his first year of kindergarten the last of May. He loved his first year of school. He had such a great teacher. Anthony has turned into a little reader. He loves to read and has taken off with his reading. It is neat to see Anthony get excited about reading. Right now he loves to read Star Wars chapter books. His Kindergarten teacher did a fantastic job fostering reading and helping Anthony's love of books grow. On the last day of school they had an award ceremony in their class and each kid got up and read from a book they made of the things they learned in Kindergarten. It was neat to be there and see how much Anthony has grown over the year.

Madeline also finished up her first year of preschool. She has made leaps and bounds in school. Her speach has come a long way. I love to listen to her count things as well as looking at books and making up stories that go along with the pictures. She has grown so much and has really gained a lot of self confidence.

Our Family Home Evening

For FHE a couple of Monday's ago we did our lesson at the dinner table. Grant chose a picture out of the gospel art kit to help with some obedience issues that we are struggling with at home. Madeline at times spends lots of time in time out as we struggle with power. We have this saying at home that we are teaching our children that they need to say: "yes mommy, yes daddy," well as you can imagine it works sometimes and sometimes it falls of deaf ears.

As we were explaining Jesus calling his apostles Grant told Madeline that when Jesus asked them to follow him, his apostles put down their nets and said "yes Jesus." Grant went on to explain what it means to follow Jesus and when we follow Jesus we are telling him "yes." We also talked about how Jesus obeyed his mommy and daddy and was a good example. Then Madeline pipes in, at this time I wasn't sure if she was listening or paying more attention to her food. "Jesus got M&M's because he made good choices and said "yes mommy, yes daddy." Grant and I had to chuckle and simply said yes he did. At home we have a good behavior jar and every time the kids make good choices we reward them with 5 M&M's, we finally found something that spoke to our kids, however sometimes M&M's are not an incentive to Madeline. The next day, on the way to school Madeline told me the whole story of Jesus calling his apostles. So I guess she was listening.

Anthony started piano lessons last week from a fantastic person in our ward. Anthony's piano teacher happens to be the primary choister in our ward and he has such a love for music and a love for children and he loves bringing the excitement of music to the children. Anthony is so excited.

I took Spencer to the doctor for his one year check up and he is officially 25 and 1/2 pounds. One pound heavier than Madeline. If he keeps his trend up he will be 30 pounds by the time he is 2.

I have been tagged by an angel

My angel that tagged me was Ginger.

How To Play This Game of Tag: Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. (Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!)
3 Joys
1. My husband, Grant
2. my children
3. Being able to start off the morning in the scriptures

3 Fears
1. Snakes
2. Heights
3. Messing up my kids and confusing them for life

3 Goals
1. To be with my family forever.
2. To get out of debt (next year!!)
3. For my kids to grow up to be happy & successful with strong testimonies of the Gospel!

3 current obsessions/collections
1. I am in a vinly lettering kick!
2. Pictures of my little family
3. Making FHE lessons for my kids

3 Random surprising facts
1. I have no cavities and never went to the dentist growing up
2. I have never broken a bone in my body
3. I had to have stiches under my chin from falling at school when I was 5

5 people I tag1. Alycia. 2. Sue. 3. Layla. 4. Wendy. 5. Any lurkers on board.

My Mother's Day

My Mother's Day was simple and nice just the way I like it. There were no fancy plans just quiet sunday spending time together. The best part of the day was the nap that I got after church. While I took a nap the kids decorated my Mother's Day gift. You see the nap served two purposes. I got some much needed rest and Grant was able to help the kids with my gift.

Anthony woke up this morning excited. He knew it was Mother's Day and he wanted to give me his gifts that he made at school. All week long Anthony and Madeline have been going through the house singing Mother Dear I love you so. They were even singing the song in the check out line at walmart and when they sing they don't sing at a whisper, they sing so everyone can hear. So all those behind us in line was privledge to hear two children sing Mother Dear I Love You So, only a kid could get away with that.

Here are some pics of my mother's day gifts. Today has been a great day just as every day is a great day!

This is a shirt that Grant and the kids got for me!

School Activity Pictures of Anthony

At Anthony's school all the Kindergarteners went to the zoo. I signed up to go thinking that I would walk along and take cute pictures of Anthony. Well the day before I read the paper again and realized that I was going to have my own group and be incharge of walking around with them, eating lunch with them, and basically educating them along the way. This was a little more than I thought, I was much more content and prepared with walking along taking cute pictures of Anthony. However, there were only three kids and one of them was Anthony that were in my group. The biggest problem was there were so many rude High School kids at the zoo which made it impossible to see some of the animals. I just do not understand how a teacher can justify taking High School Kids to the zoo, Kindergartners I can. These High School kids were not chaperoned which made things more difficult. The kids were certainly tired by the end of the field trip and having to walk back was interesting with 3 tired Kindergartners. The highlight of the trip for Anthony was being able to ride the bus.

Also last week Anthony was able to participate in field day at school. I walked around for about an hour cheering Anthony on and taking pictures of my cute son in action. After an hour I was tired and left Anthony with his 5th grader buddy and sat in the shade with the teachers and watched from a distance. Anthony enjoyed going around with his group paticipating in the different activities. There was no competition as they all recieved a certificate at the end. It was fun to see Anthony's smile on his face and to see him really enjoying himself.

Spencer Turned One!

On Saturday, Spencer turned a year old. We were going to go to the zoo, but figured Anthony and Madeline would enjoy it more than Spencer. We then thought of going to the park and then we stepped outside and was hit with the humidty so we decided instead to go get pictures taken of Spencer. For his birthday breakfast we made our usual pancake with a birthday candle, but he was more interested in his cocoa puffs and pushed it away.

On Sunday after church the kids decorated his cake and gave him his presents. Spencer didn't go after the cake like we thought, infact he didn't really start eating it until we gave him ice cream and stopped taking pictures. We managed to get a few pictures of him eating cake and ice cream. After he got all cleaned up, he opened his presents and we spent the rest of the time as a family enjoying Spencer's new toys with him.

Feedback from Spencer on his birthday was that it was good. My only clue is his smile and usual bubbly self.

Happy Eight Years!

For our eight year anniversary Grant thought of a neat idea. We haven't had pictures done of just us since our engagement pictures, so he thought it would be neat to go down to the studio and have pictures taken of us. So we did! We went to Kiddie Kandids so we were able to get the pictures in 10 minutes and then off to the craft store to pick out frames. I was so happy with how they turned out. I have to admit I practiced my smile before we left. In the pictures Grant and I look really happy, so I guess it means it has been a great 8 years.

Some randome pictures

Madeline loves to play games and do puzzles together. One of her favorite games is hide n seek. She is getting pretty good at hiding and staying quiet until found. Well she found a hiding place that only Madeline can hide in. Grant thought it was pretty qute so he took some pictures.

A couple of weeks ago we decided that we were done experiencing freezer temperatures at night and it was time to plant some flowers. The kids enjoyed going to the "plant store" and picking out flowers as well as seeds for their garden. Anthony and Madeline enjoyed planting the flowers. I was more surprised at how well it occupied their time. Anthony did most of the planting. He dug the hole, put the flower in, and filled it back with dirt. They spent most of the day out in yard working.

A couple of Sundays ago we went to a local park to enjoy the weather with a picnic and a nature walk. Anthony asked before we left if I could put together a scavenger hunt to do on our nature walk. I have done it a couple of times for when we go camping. I have to admit I cheated and found a website that has them done for you. This time the colored the squares for each time they found the object they were looking for. Madeline enjoyed it for a little bit, but became more interested in pushing Spencer (who is bigger than her) in the stroller. Anthony never lost interest. Spencer got tired of the stoller after a bit and prefered Daddy's shoulders which made it easier for Madeline to push the stroller. It was nice to get outside and enjoy some family time as well as some nice weather. It won't be too long before the only nice thing to do outside is swimming.