Leaves, Turkey, and Pumpkin Pie

Leaves... As Dad headed back to Walmart for more lights, we decided to grab a rake. Very fun with a 2 1/2 year old :).

Turkey - Our Thanksgiving day craft... Madison asked if we were going to eat it.

Pumpkin Pie - Madison had made pumpkin pie at Jess's a couple of days before. I then realized I had never given that a try and decided to give it a shot. So, Madison and I stirred up all the ingredients, popped it in the oven, and then grabbed a piece for dessert before bedtime. Madison took one bit and asked for the 'other pumpkin pie'. I'm sure it was the recipe....

Elefun is.... SO FUN!

Elefun is a new game that the kids got from the wonderful Deines family. I guess it was a family fav of theirs when their kids were young. Let's just say that it has quickly become fun at our house. It is simply a little elephant head that has a long nose that blows little 'butterflies' out that the kids are then supposed to catch with their 'butterfly catchers'. Madison quickly learned that she catches more butterflies if she simlpy stands still with her catcher held high... as opposed to moving it around to follow them as they fall (whenever trying this method out, she was always a split second too late and often ended the round with nothing). Today Jordan and Eli joined the crew. Fun times with Elefun...

PS... Matt and I tried to take each other on once. I ended the round with a bloody lip and Matt has been banned ever since... Ele-no-fun.

Christmas Lights

Let's just say that Madison is in LOVE with Christmas lights. When we drive at night, the whole ride consists of, "MOMMY! LOOK! Out your window... MOMMY, my window!... MOMMY, T-Man's window". She says it as if she's never seen anything like it before. There is a house a block away that has lots of bright, blinking lights all over their house. It's quite guady if you ask me, but she asks to see it every time we drive, and we always do. She calls them the "orange" lights... even though only about 1/20th of them are orange.

Needless to say she consistently has asked Matt to put Christmas lights on "ow' house. Matt told her he would during Thansgiving break, and she would always respond with, "After naptime?". Thanksgiving break came and out the family went. Madison held the long string while Matt hooked them to the roof. After hanging out half of them up, he realized they weren't working. He headed off to Walmart for a new batch. He then put those up all around the house. We went inside, ate dinner, and came back out when it was dark. Madison, Eliott, and I stood on the front lawn while Matt went over to plug them in (it felt oddly like we were in the Christmas Vacation movie). Sure enough, the flickered on, I cheered and Madison looked at them with a straight face. Then plainly looked at me and said, "Mom, I want the orange lights."

The lights were not only bugging Madison, they were bugging my perfectionist husband, as they were quite dangling right. So.... off he went to Walmart to return these and get a new LED set. He rehung for a third time. After a bit of prepping with Madison... telling her how hard Daddy is working to put Christmas lights on our house and many people don't get any Christmas lights, when Matt turned these on, she told him that she liked them... and she does. She talks about them often and when five oclock rolls around and the light flip on, she definitely runs to the window to see.

Turkey Bowl 2011!

Today was the 5th annual turkey bowl. What is the 'Turkey Bowl' you may ask... well, it's where a bunch of guys get together and draft teams and take their only shot at competitive 'flag' football for the year. They all leave tired and beat up but they all love it. Matt said several times... "I feel old". He's definitely sore but had a lot of fun. Matt even succeeded in being a part of the 'All Turkey Team'. And one last word.... "brrrrrrrrrr".

still life...

I usually manage to get a few good pictures of other people's little ones but when it comes to getting a good picture of mine... they are sometimes hard to come by. They are both incredibly tired of my camera and at least Madison tries to ignore it as much as she can. When looking through pictures that I had taken of them, all I could find was Madison looking while Eliott was eating dirt or Eliott smiling while Madison is scrunching up her nose at something in completely the other direction...

Anyways, I got stuck on this picture because I think I somehow managed to grab their complete personalities in one picture. If someone asked me what my kids were like I would show them this still moment in time... Eliott not having a care in the world, grabbing his feet with a big smile and Madison totally focused on something... trying to figure out what it is and how it works.

Both wonderfully, incredible, talented, love-able kids... totally different.

yet another conversation with the Miss...

Madison - "Where's Daddy?"

Me - "Getting his hair cut."

"Getting a paper cut?"

"No, getting his hair cut."

"Does he get a sucker when he's done?"

Her first 'ask'...

This is the conversation that was taking place in this picture...

Ayden's first attempt to ask her out... hope he has thick skin and keeps trying.

"Madi... you want to go to the bouncy park?"

"No, Ayden, Later."

Faith like a child...

Initially wasn't sure if this should be a public post, but I don't want to forget it...

Madison is an incredibly sweet, sensitive, and thoughtful girl.... especially when it has something to do with someone who is sick or has an owie. If she hears of someone who is sick or was hurt, she asks about it for days. The other day Madison was with my parents and they were on a walk. My mom was telling my dad about the little boy that was hit by a school bus last week... such a sad story. Madison thought about it and asked my Mom about it, and my mom told her what happened, but didn't want to get into what it means to die, so she pretty much left it at 'the boy got an owie'. She asked her about it several more times and then has asked me about it several times a day ever since. She always says, "Mom, what happened to that little boy?" I always respond, "He was hit by a bus", and usually leaving it at that. She obviously doesn't quite understand it, and when Madison doesn't quite understand something, she can't let it go. We have literally had a discussion about this little boy 20 to 30 times. The other day she asked me again, but went a little farther. Here's our talk...

"Mom, what happened to that little boy?"

"He was hit by a school bus, sweetheart."

"Where is he?"

"He's probably with Jesus."

"Does he have bandaids on his legs?"

"No, sweatheart, his owies are all better now."

"Is he walking with Jesus?"

"Yes, I would bet they are walking together."

"Like in my book, Tallest of the Smalls."

"Yes, Madison."

Faith like a child.

One year ago today...

... I knew I was going to have our baby the following day. We had had an ultrasound earlier in the week and he was a hefty babe so (after a few tears in the office) she worked me in. There actually wasn't a spot open but she told me to come in if anything 'hurt' and they wouldn't let me go home. Eventually something opened up and I had an induction planned. Initially I didn't want the induction (knowing I wanted a natural birth), but he wasn't coming on his own. So I had the great idea to go out to eat as our last night as a family of three. It is the only time we have ever had to leave a restaurant early for our kid(s)... :). To make a long story short, we woke up early, headed to the hospital and had our little/big man at 1:00 the next day.

Tonight, before I put him into bed, he was sitting on my lap. A year ago he was wrapped up and (barely) fit inside my belly. Tonight, his long curly hair was touching my chin and his legs were extended past my knees. What a crazy wonderful year.