workin' the system

I put Lyndon to bed about 45 minutes ago.

The routine is that he gets a story, a prayer and then off the bed. He loves his crib and most nights he joyfully dives into into it happy to go to bed. As I walked near his room (actually it's our closet but that's a different post. FYI: it's a huge walk-in closet with it's own vent and overflowing with coziness. Don't go calling CPS on me just yet.) So I walk by our closet and I hear him giggling happily (as usual) except this time he heard me listening at the door. Out of no where he lets out his cry saying that he is really hurt. I continue to stand there, he continues to cry (that really sad, "I'm hurt, come rescue me" cry.) He has gotten his legs stuck between the bars before so I decide I better go in to investigate because this sounds like what has happened.

I enter the closet.

Is he hurt? Is he stuck?

Far from it.

I assess the situation to find him gleefully shout out, "Mamma!" in a very unstuck and unhurt kind of way.

I proceed to pick him up just to make sure he's fine.

The little rascal just found a way to trick me in to coming in and picking him up!!

He immediately nuzzled his face into my neck and just layed there with both of his arms wrapped tightly around me. There was no way I putting him down while he was doing that!

He knew it, I knew it. We were both happy. I can't believe I was had by a 17 month old.

My 4 minutes...

Every day, uh, every day I take a shower that is, I get 4 minutes of total and complete thinking time. But it's not while I'm actually IN the shower because the kids still come and see me. (They have to make sure I'm still within 30 seconds of them.) My thinking time comes in the form of...

Blow Drying My Hair.

I'm sure many are thinking well, Maddie and Lyndon can STILL come and interrupt my thoughts just like they do while I'm showering. But here's the kicker...the hair dryer works a bit like Maddie and Lyndon repellent, if you will. That's right under no circumstances do either of them come to my while I dry my hair...they hate it, I love it. Don't get me wrong, I love those two little munchkins with all my heart and soul but for heaven's sake 4 minutes of COMPLETE and TOTAL thinking time is enough to make me giddy.

So here's a sample of what thoughts come to me during this sacred time:

• Why can't Maddie remember to wipe the seat after she goes potty? ...she's no longer allowed to use our bathroom. Ugh.
• I wonder how many calories those cookies were I just had for breakfast?
• That concert was so fun..."hangin' tough, hangin' tough, hangin' tough, are you tough enough oh, oh, oh, oh, oh just hangin' tough"... I should listen to their new stuff...
• I need to order my book for book club book from Amazon. Why do I wait till the last minute?
• Oh, that reminds me, I also need to get Maddie's and Lyndon's birth certificates. Seriously, why am I such a procrastinator?
• You got me straight trippin' boo. Jonathon is so funny. You got me straight trippin' boo.
• Wow, my hips look pretty small in these jeans...oh, I see, the counter is just hiding them.
• Let's see, if I get my hair cut around the middle of November I won't need to get it cut again before we leave for Christmas. ...Or will I?
• I'm glad we'll have a turkey dinner at Jonathon's parents house for Christmas eve, I'm a little sad we aren't doing anything for Thanksgiving. I'm sure Mimi's Cafe will be yummy.
• I wonder how Kenia Ann is? I should call her.
• I can't believe Mallory and Anna cleaned up Maddie's poopy mess, they deserve a metal.
• Lyndon ate oatmeal!!!! I'm the best Mom ever!!!

And that concludes my 4 minutes of "Katie's Thinking Time". Good bye hair dryer, Hello kids.

Maddie and Lyndon LOVE to just sit on Jonathon's lap and listen to music. I'm not sure how long the three of them sat here but they were all quite enthralled and loving it.

FUN sent from Grandpa and Grandma!

Jim and Kris (Jonathon's parents) just returned home from a trip to Spain. They had a great time and WE had a great time opening the package they sent with our souvenirs they brought back. A HUGE thank you to them for everything. We loved taking each box out layer by layer only to reveal more and more great stuff! side note: it's taking all my self control not to rip into those gymboree boxes that are for Maddie's birthday! Don't worry, I'll be patient and wait! :) Not only did they send souvenirs but they also sent Halloween goodies!

Kris made these adorable out fits for the kids. Of course they turned their pitch fork and wand into swords...good vs. evil...who won? You don't want to know. Lets just say for never having formal sword training, Lyndon is exceptional! :)

Yes, those are little devil wings embroidered on the back of Lyndon's shirt!

This is the cutest lil' devil I've ever seen!

No devil would be complete without a pitch fork!

Our little cutie pie. She shocked me and actually looked directly into the camera. Miracles. Miracles.
This an authentic Flamenco dress from Spain. Maddie calls it a "mango" dress. She loves it so much I had to threaten to put it away for good if she didn't take it off to go to bed. What girl wouldn't love this dress? ...Ruffles, frill and fringe...

This is how great Jonathon is...while I was off being a 12 year old (going to NKOTB), Jonathon took the kids to a pumpkin patch for the day! AND he even took the camera to take pictures. How wonderful is he? Maddie and Lyndon BOTH loved loved loved the goats. They let the goats eat right out of their hands.

Checking out a few pumpkins...Jonathon told them they could pick out any pumpkin they wanted. So what do they choose? 2 of the TINIEST pumpkins you've ever seen! (Not pictured.)

There was a corn maze that Maddie just HAD to go in. They also got go for a hay ride. They all had a blast. Thanks, Jonathon, you get the "Dad of the year" award in my book!

The Boys from Bean Town

Let me paint you a picture...the stadium is completely dark, the crowd is going wild, suddenly I see smoke rising up out of the center of the stage....I begin the see their faces...their torsos, their feet...is this real? Am I really breathing the same air as...

The New Kids on the Block???

I wasn't ready for such an adrenaline rush! I had no idea I would be one of those crazed teeny boppers screaming at the top of my lungs for a boy band.

But I was.

I didn't think I would jump up and down like a giddy 12 year old.

But I did.

I didn't think I was their number one fan.

But I am.

Yes, it's true, I just returned from accomplishing a life long dream... attending a NKOTB concert. (Don't worry, I have more sophisticated dreams as well). Call me what you will, but I just had one heck of a weekend! I went with some other NKOTB fans...Teresa, Mallory and Anna. Teresa and I are/were Mallory and Anna's Young Women leaders. Back in May they actually set this whole thing up for us. We had an NKOTB night where we made our shirts, uh well, where we talked and then Mallory made our shirts for us a few days later. :) We prepped ourselves by listening to their music and watching VH1 behind the scenes shows about them. But really nothing could have prepared us for the amazing experience of going to the concert.

We each picked our favorite song and then wrote a line from it on the front of our T-shirts. My favorite song is "Tonight"....remember when we traveled 'round the world? Met a lot of people and gi-i-i-i-i-irls...talked about hangin' tough as long as you got the right stuff, didn't we girl, ahhhh ahhh... Sorry, I just had to break into song there for a second.

On the sleeve of my shirt I wrote "I heart Jonathon" (Who is both a new kid and the name of my hubby. Even though I really heart Jordan but I wanted it to do double duty and show my love for my hubby AND for the New Kids!)

Here we are having dinner right before the show.

Theresa had surgery on her foot a few months ago so she was able to use her disabled parking pass and we parked practically at the front door. How cool are those passes?!
This was fun...While we were waiting for the concert to start everyone was texting messages to the New Kids and then some of them would come up on the big screen. MINE CAME UP! I didn't have my phone so I asked Mallory to come up with something about Jordan being the wind beneath my wings. Here's what is came up with...(Mallory, you're the best.)
It's hard to see but it says, "Jordan, not a day goes by I don't thank the dear Lord for your existence. You are the wind beneath my wings. -Katie"

Just having some fun texting.

(Side note: For those of you who are my age, I realized we too were "texting" in high school. Remember when we would write things on our Ti 85 graphing calculators and pass them to our friends during class? ...Texting.)

right before the concert was about to start.

Here's a view showing where we were sitting...we were actually a little closer than the camera let's on but not by much!

Isn't this so epitome Boy Band? I loved it.

During the concert one of the New Kids said to the audience, Whose husbands are at home watching the kids so you can be heare at the concert tonight?". The audience let out a roar. I loved it. Most of us were there living out a childhood dream. Thank you Jordon, Joey, Jonathon, Donny and Danny. You guys still got the right stuff.

Next goal to work on...be a guest on the Oprah show.

What will they do next?

Lyndon's non-verbal communication is top notch. We are upstairs when he comes whimpering to me. He urgently points to the stairs while shoving a play cookie in my face (still whimpering). Hummm...okay, he wants to go downstairs.

Phase 1 complete: he is downstairs.

As soon as I put him down he runs (while whimpering) to the bean bag chairs. As he's grunting trying to pull the bean bag chair in front of the TV I decide, ah yes, he wants the beanbag chair in front of the TV.

Phase 2 complete: beanbag is in front of TV.

Next he finds the remote (while whimpering), gives it to me and points to the TV. Okay, so now he wants me to turn the TV on.

Phase 3 complete: TV is turned on.

Last but not least, he proceeds, again,to shove that play cookie in my face (while whimpering) and smacking his lips. Gotcha. He wants a snack.

Phase 4 complete: he has a snack.

Mission Completion! Lyndon, blissfully eating a snack while watching TV. I'm a little nervous what he'll have me do when he can actually TALK!

Okay, here are some good times. The last time I saw her she was tucked in bed for her nap with a shirt and shorts on (clean skin)...and this is how I find her after her so-called "nap" ...

Later that same evening I run upstairs to grab something and come down to this:

she thought it was hilarious.

I was cooking dinner and I look over to check on Lyndon. Here's what I see...

So, of course, I say, "Where's Lyndon? Is he hiding?" And then I see...

Maddie and I made bread, cinnamon rolls and pull apart yesterday. I love this time of year and the smell of bread baking in the oven makes it that much sweeter. Maddie made her own little loaf.

Lyndon copies everything that Maddie does. He LOVES to play pretend with her, especially pretend eating! Maddie set up this little tea party for them.







I wish this had sound but every time Lyndon pours a drink he makes a pouring (shhhhhh) sound. It is adorable! He also likes to pretend to chew and makes the cutest little fishy lips while he's pretending.

Don't Blink

I went to the Standards Fireside tonight with the Young Woman in our Ward. There was one talk there that really spoke to me. He talked about how we shouldn't be wishing our lives away. He was speaking to the Youth but I applied it to my own life. He counseled the youth to really embrace their life right and to enjoy it because they will someday look back and wonder where the time went.

I'm already seeing that with our kids. Maddie will turn 3 is just a dew weeks and it seriously feels like we just found out I was pregnant with her. The gentleman that spoke to them also spoke to the parents and counseled them to not wish away any part of their lives as well. He remembered a time when his kids were just babies and he wondered when life would get just a little easier, like when the kids would be able to talk and actually tell him why they were upset or when he didn't have to carry an arsenal of "stuff" just to go to the grocery store. Now that his kids are almost all grown up he longs to hold a baby again. We can't blink or we'll miss life.

I'm definitely in the situation of wondering when it will get just a little easier or when will the kids be able to get a snack by themselves and not have to rely on me for everything...sadly I've had days where I've longed for the future. But as I think of his talk and look at my life I see the immense joy and love and laughter I have RIGHT NOW.

I know the day will come that I will long to hear Maddie's cute high pitched little voice saying things like, Mommy and Maddie are pretty. Daddy and Lyndon are cool".

and

"Pink, oh that's my favorite. Imagination movers, oh that's my favorite. Pizza and Pop, oh that's my favorite."

and

"I'm Tasha. Mommy you are Uniqua, and Lyndon is the Pablinator. Let's pretend."

And I will definitely miss her adorable curious little eyes staring up at me in question or sparkling when he's being silly. Or hearing her say she has "purple eyes, like Aurora".

I will miss her little lisp. I know she made need some speech therapy someday but I think it is absolutely ADORABLE. Sometimes I have her repeat things just because I love to watch her little tongue curl up to try and spit the word out.

With Lyndon, I will surely long for his sweet hugs and cuddles. That boy loves me and he shows it daily. I'll miss snuggling him with his silky blanket while he watches Mickey Mouse.

I'll miss how he dances or moves his body whenever he hears any type of music. I'll miss dancing with him holding his hands going around and around in a circle.

I'll miss the silly things he does like tonight when he kept snagging grapes from the trash and going to lay on my dirty laundry piles to eat them. (Hey, whatever entertains him while I'm trying to talk on the phone is good with me.)

I'll miss when he runs like crazy into the front room when I get home yelling "Momma, Momma".

I'll miss how he plops himself face first into the bean bag chairs, stays there for a moment and them looks up to see who is watching him be silly.

My Mom told me a few months ago to just love every minute with my kids because all too fast they grow up and it's on the next stage in life. She said she would give anything to go back in time and be able to just hold us again.

I will remember on a daily basis to not blink because all too fast they go from this:

to this:

and from this:

to this:

what's going on in this head of mine...

Sometimes I have so much stuff running through my mind throughout the day I feel like it's going to explode.So here I go, (brace yourself) I'm going to release it all on the blog...

First...When Lyndon was first born I can remember thinking how cute it's going to be when Maddie and Lyndon talk to each other. Even their little bickering will be so adorable...


Was I an idiot?


Adorable is the last word on my mind when the two of them start going at it. Can it be possible that my little 16 month old really knows how to tease Maddie? He seriously knows all her buttons. I find myself telling Maddie that when she screams like that it will only make him do it more. 16 months. 16 MONTHS.


On to more rambling...

We were driving in the car and this is the monologue I hear from Maddie:

"Daddy got his hair cut at the mall." (Breath)

"Does Santa live in the North Pole?" (Breath)

"We saw Sassy dog at the park." (Breath)

"I don't eat treats."

To anyone who could have heard her or or read this now you're probably thinking how random all of these statements are. Well because I'm her best friend, I know that isn't true. Each of these statements relate perfectly to the next. Here's how...

When she said MALL she thought about how she saw Santa at the mall.

when she said SANTA she thought about how she's going to ask Santa for a sassy dog.

When she said DOG she thought about how dogs eat treats and how she doesn't because, well, that would just be silly for people to eat dog treats, wouldn't it.

I get ya, Maddie. I get ya.


Oh, here on some things that Maddie calls Lyndon:

"Lyndon Boy" (we call Maddie, "Maddie Girl")
"Buddy"
"Ga Ga Goo Goo boy"
"Silly old boy" (she also calls Jonathon "Silly old Dad". Pretty sure this came from Winnie the Pooh, "Silly old Bear".)

Jonathon came home with purple lights to put in the trees for Halloween. Yay for Halloween! To our surprise all the lights were not the same color! Half were purple and half were...pink. So yeah, who knows what we're celebrating. We should just tell Maddie the lights are all for her because those are her FAVORITE colors. (She has a FAVORITE of everything these days.)

Here are my Halloween decorations this year. The cool part (well I think it's cool) is that I got almost everything either from the Dollar store or printed it off marthastewart.com!




I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the whole porch but I have a black wooden chair with another black flower pot on the other side of the door. I spray painted the chair and the flower pots in our garage last week. I had the garage door up while I was doing it and our neighbor pulled up in his driveway. As he got out he kind of stuck his head around to get a better look and said with doubt in his voice, "You spray paintin' flowers black?" I quickly said, "It's for Halloween." He looked relieved.




So Maddie loves to try on outfit after outfit all day...and NIGHT apparently. We went in to check on her before we went to bed and she had this completely different outfit on. In the morning I discovered that she was also wearing 3, count them 3, pairs of bloomers!
Also you can't really see it but she fills up bags and purses with her treasures. She hordes a ton of stuff but likes to keeps it all neat and organized. Here she put her princess stool on her bed with 3 full purses stacked one on top on the other. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!





Okay, here's a fun one...


So any guesses what's on Lyndon's face?



marker? Nope.



paint? wrong.



some type of food? closer.


It's...drum roll please...atomic fireball!!


Where the heck did he find an atomic fireball? He came running to me (still licking it) while whimpering. He was torn, it was so yummy and sugary yet it was burning his tongue off. It's a choice we've all had to make in our lives. I made Lyndon's choice for him. Good-bye fireball. But I had to get the camera first...

Okay and last but certainly not least...

Does anyone know who this is?

This is my new facebook friend...Andy Baldwin...ABC's bachelor. :)

Yes, I'm a nerd and I have watched many season's of The Bachelor. I've actually dragged Jonathon in on it with me. What a good guy. Anyways a couple seasons ago Andy Baldwin was the bachelor. He is an officer in the Navy and my brother in law, Kelly, also happens to be an officer in the navy. Come to find out Kelly is actually friends with Andy! So a few days ago Andy sends a friend request to my sister, Heather. She is now facebook friends with Andy...how can I not be? :)

Yes, it's true I, shamelessly, sent a friend request to Andy dropping Kelly's name so he would know I'm not a COMPLETE stranger! :) Well, he confirmed it...we are now facebook friends.

BTW my name was on his profile as a new friend just 4 lines above Deborah Gibsons (you might know her as Debbie Gibson) personal message to him! Yes, that's right him rollin' with the big guns now! :)


Jonathon's right, I'm weird.