Madelyn's in KINDERGARTEN!!

8/31/10

Today was the big day! Aside from a hectic morning, Madelyn's first day of kindergarten went great. I can't believe I'm old enough to have a kid in school.

Last night we laid her clothes out...

and read some of my favorite stories from when I was a kid

We decided to all take her to class this morning

*At this point, my camera shut down and informed me "Battery exhausted." WHAT!? Oh NO it just didn't!! By sheer force of will, I made it eke out one more picture:

(phew.) There she is with Mrs. Brunson, her teacher.

The bus dropped her off a few hours later (probably her favorite part of the whole day).

Mark was home for lunch and got to hear all about it

I'm so proud of this little chick! And I didn't even cry sending her off into the world. Yet.

And in what is sure to become a regular feature:

Mess of the day

by Luke

After having pried the lid off the baking powder with his teeth and making a splendid powdery mess in the corner, he discovered a cereal liner in the garbage and rained down the crumbs all over creation. That's my boy.

PS. Is it just me, or do these school days seem twice as long as summer days? I swear it should be 8:30 by now.

Last day of freedom

8/30/10

Madelyn starts school tomorrow. So ends a nearly six year era of her being able to have leisurely, slow, dawdle around, watch TV mornings. I am nervous about the transition. They didn't offer afternoon kindergarten at her school this year due to low enrollment. The only good thing is that Mark will probably drop her off on his way to work if she doesn't take the bus, so at least I won't have to be dressed and out in public before 9:00am.

Anyway, Dr. Dowse (Mark's boss) decided to close the clinic early on Friday so we could go have a pool party at his house with the other providers. I was going to post these pictures yesterday but got sidetracked watching Casino Royale.

*pause*


Don't even come near me with a Pierce Brosnan Bond movie. Daniel Craig is the only way to go--am I right? (Save for a few people I know who have a thing for Sean Connery...50 years ago.) Sigh!!

But I digress. We had a lovely time at the party, swimming, eating and fantasizing what it would be like to have money someday (Dr. Dowse has one of the nicest houses in Cedar). It was the perfect end to our summer vacation.

Luke is trying to eat the baking powder...see you tomorrow!

:)

11 months!

8/25/10

Luke turned 11 months old today! I can't believe it. Time has gone by so quickly because this little guy keeps things hoppin' over here.

Weight: 20 lbs. 5 oz. (25th percentile)
Length: 29 inches

New skills: walking along furniture, standing on own for a few seconds, pointing with his index finger, opening cupboards and emptying them, turning off the computer, shrieking and squalling extra loud when upset, poking his finger into your eyes and mouth (turns out that's an excellent way to spread germs from person to person...remember the stomach flu he helped us get?...)

Favorites: Goldfish crackers, string cheese, juice, Crispix, yogurt drinks, macaroni & cheese, graham crackers, Kleenex (yum!) and paper

Luke is quite the busybody still. We are finally having to break down and get cupboard latches because every time I turn around he is getting into something.

He scurries over every time you open the dishwasher...

...or the fridge

...or the dryer

(dryer lint chin)

He can't resist a bath...

Mmmmm. Palmolive!

Don't even get me started about what he does to the laundry...

...or a new container of wipes

...or cardboard

...or my phone

His new motto in life is that whatever is full must be EMPTIED, as soon as possible.

So I've pretty much given up on keeping a clean house. It's OK--as my friend Michelle put it, "My house isn't messy, it's custom designed by a baby and a 5-year old."

He's so much fun, though

Whoa there, Shay...

He has a doting big sister (sometimes a little too doting, haha)

He pushes chairs and stools all over the kitchen and dining room

And Madelyn said I needed to take a picture of her and put it on the blog, so here you go. Jammie top, undies, tights and ballet slippers. Love it.

Now it's back to being a mom....two screaming kids....it's reached about 200 decibels.....gotta go...

Cutest craft EVER

8/23/10

Last week while perusing One Pretty Thing, I spotted these flower fairies on Tuffet and knew right away that I had to make some. I already had everything but the embroidery floss and the wood beads, which I got at Michael's. (Turns out the ones on the tutorial have a hole that goes through the entire bead, and mine don't. I just glued the hair on top instead of threading it through.) These were quick, easy, fun and the possibilities are endless!

Click HERE for tutorial.

I experimented with different wing shapes

I used a ultra fine point Sharpie for the faces and let's just say they are harder than they look to draw. Next time I'm going to use pencil and then a Sharpie. The poor light pink fairy had to had her hair removed and face drawn three times. Perhaps the face should be drawn before the doll is assembled (making sure the ink is dry--some wood beads have a shiny coating that makes it smear) to avoid having a fairy with an ugly face.

Madelyn ♥♥ loves♥♥ hers and as soon as I get more supplies, we're going to have a whole flock of fairies!

For all the dads out there

This has been floating around cyberspace for a while. Mark and I got a good chortle out of it. Tyler, you probably could have starred in this video....

Back from the brink

Happy 32nd!

8/20/10

We've been busy lately. Birthdays, parties, frolicking with the Irish, contracting the plague (OK, not the plague, but a plague...). I have some catching up to do.

Mark and I felt mostly better yesterday and suddenly had an enormous appetite. So we went out for Chinese for his belated birthday lunch.

You'd think we never feed Madelyn the way she packs it in at a Chinese restaurant. She loads up on crab, shrimp, noodles, egg drop soup and ice cream and eats five times the amount that she does at home.

Huh???

Madelyn and co. helped me make Mark's birthday cheesecake today, but none of us have had a piece yet. I forgot that it takes 4-5 hours of chilling time. Madelyn was nearly hysterical when I wouldn't let her have a piece right out of the oven. (gross!)

Annnd....

Last Friday we went over to the Utah Shakespearean Festival Greenshow that's free to the public. I knew Madelyn would love it. I almost auditioned to be a performer about six years ago, but then I got pregnant with her. (I am not one of those people who can keep on exercising right until delivery day [Rachel...]. I am one of those people who is blessed with incredible nausea and vertigo.)

She couldn't just sit idly by when there was dancing going on.

Luke was super thrilled to be there, as you can tell

Whee!

The SUU campus is so beautiful. I miss going there every day.

Trying out the stage

The next day, we went to St. George for my nephew Nathan's Star Wars birthday party. It was quite the celebration!

So yeah. Those events were all out of order but you get the picture.

We're tuckered out.

Only 10 more days till she starts school!