Sunday, December 13, 2009

that's what it's all about

Been a while, I know. :)



A few weeks ago we were driving in the car and I let the kids have the windows down for a little air. As we started speeding up to around 50 mph the wind was gushing in at all sides and whipping our hair around. I knew the kids were loving it because I could hear them giggling in the back. And then out of no where Maddie exuberantly yells above the wind, "That's what I'm talkin' about!"



That same day I took the kids to McDonalds to eat and play. Maddie likes the jungle gym but only if there are no other kids playing on it. Lyndon, on the other hand has the motto of "the more the merrier". This particular day there were lots of kids so Maddie took her seat next to me and Lyndon ventured out to start making friends. He attached himself to this Hispanic family of 3 kids. They ran and played together, Lyndon with them every step of the way. Meanwhile their Dad and one of their brothers were playing air hockey so the rest of the kids, including Lyndon, stopped to watch. To cheer her dad on the littlest girl yelled out, "¡Vaya a Papá!" (Go Daddy!) So what does Lyndon yell out? ..."¡Vaya a Papá!" I started laughing and so the Dad. He wanted to know if I was teaching Lyndon Spanish. Nope. :)



One day Maddie and Lyndon just would not listen. It seemed like anything we said or threatened were falling on deaf ears. So Jonathon, thinking on the fly, said, "Do you know that Santa is watching you all the time?" This perked their attention a little. Especially Maddie. So Jonathon continued, "Yeah, do you see these things?" (pointing to the smoke alarms.) "these are cameras so that Santa can watch you at all times. And if you aren't listening to your Mom and Dad, Santa knows." Maddie quietly listened and was pretty good the rest of the evening. I actually forgot about it until about a week later we were in Chick-fil-a and Maddie pointed to a smoke detector and exclaimed, "He even has them in HERE too??!!!" And then last night we come home from a night out and our baby sitter, the lovely Diana, said to us, "So...Santa has your house equipped with cameras, huh?" Apparently Maddie and Diana were in the pantry getting a snack when Maddie says in a hushed voice pointing to the ceiling, "See that? Up there? That's a camera." Diana's immediate thought was, what the heck? Are the Evans monitoring their pantry?! But then Maddie explained how it's a camera for Santa to make sure she and Lyndon are being good. Sweet success. For the record, I don't feel a bit guilty. This has helped us more than you know. :)

(side note: phone calls from Santa have also worked miracles in this house. I've never seen Maddie pick up the playroom as fast as I did the night that Jonathon had a little chat with the big guy.)



Lyndon has a big tendency of running off. We'll be in a store, any store, and if left out of the cart for any length of time he will turn, look at me with a sparkle in his eye and bolt. It's annoying. I can't stand it. (But he's just so darn charismatic...) So, needless to say, he spends the majority of his time buckled in a cart. Which he's certainly is not a fan of. I've never understood what the point of it is. (Except for the sure thrill of seeing his Mom sprinting down a crowded isle dodging innocent bystanders.) So I've never figured out why he won't stop after I call out his name 8o times. ...until now. We were at IKEA, eating hot dogs and cinnamon rolls. (what a steal, btw.) Lyndon jumps off his chair and immediately begins to take off. I call out, "Lyndon, Lyndon, stop, turn around, Lyndon, stop, Lyndon." I finally catch him, bring him back to the table sit down and sternly start the "Mom scolding" quietly in his little ear. "Lyndon", I say in a quick low voice, trying to make myself sound gruff, "when I call out your name. you. stop. do. you. understand?" to which he innocently replied, "What's my name?" So has this been our problem...he doesn't know his name?




So here are some random pictures...

First of all this was a fun Christmas parade. And most of you know...I'm a sucker for any type of parade. This was a pretty good one.






Lyndon, waiting for the parade to start was trying to make some leaves "Fly around".



We love our H-E-B!!!



Maddie got her face painted. Our little Rudolf. I'm actually a little surprised she didn't choose something a little more girly. Incidentally after the parade we went to Chik-fil-a for lunch. And I think the face painting gave her some power because she wasn't a bit hesitant to go in the jungle gym and play with all the other kids. All of the other girls pretended to be scared of her and would scream and run from her. At first I thought it might hurt her feelings a little but boy was I mistaken. She loved it. She was very proud to be the scary one chasing everyone.





Check out that HUGE bag of kettle corn. Real kettle corn made in a real kettle. It was heavenly. I wish that bag was twice that big. :)



Okay, so Lyndon has had a long term love affair with Cinderella. He likes to point out, "My favorite princess is Cinderella." It's really quite sweet. He wanted me to take a few shots of them together. ...engagement pictures maybe?





















...astronaut, Lyndon came back for a bit.




Maddie had to come join us with her favorite princess, Aurora.










Lyndon LOVES to make anyone laugh, especially Maddie. I just love this picture.





and this one.





Thursday, November 19, 2009

Maddie and Lyndon photo shoot.

Okay, I should really be editing the 20 zillion photos from my holiday photo sessions OR cleaning our kitchen that still has dried up lettuce from last night's dinner and glitter from the latest Maddie and Lyndon craft extravaganza but...well, that will all have to wait cause I'm gonna do something I want to do. And that, my friends, is put all these pictures on my blog...finally.
A few weeks ago I realized I hadn't taken any fun pictures of the two little cuties lately and that is just unacceptable. Sooooo, I wiped off their sticky faces and hands threw something on them that for Lyndon didn't involve a bare chest and some pajama shorts and we ventured out front. I gotta say...they are two pretty darn cute kids, if I do say so myself. So, enjoy the photos...

(Stay tuned 'till the end cause I have a fresh new batch of Maddie-isms. :))













This picture makes me laugh out loud every time I look at it. That kid...











































These are Lyndon's TRUE feelings for Maddie...he ADORES her. A-DORES-HER.










Maddie got a new little Barbie Peek-a-Boo dollhouse. The other day Lyndon wanted to join in but Maddie told him no. I quickly suggested that Maddie might want to let him play with her cause well it would be a nice thing to do but also down the line SHE might want HIM to share with her. She liked my reasoning so she gave him one of her little Barbies to start pretending with. Lyndon began to walk the Barbie in and out of the little rooms prentending, right along side Maddie. Then out of no where Maddie let's out in her most encouraging sweet voice, "That's the spirit, Lyndon!"
****caution****
the next story will invlove some potty launguage (literally)...read at your own risk. :)
Late one evening Maddie is sitting on the potty...going #2. I'm in the other room waiting for her to finish so I can go and assist, when I hear the water running in the bathroom. I hurry in because if the water is running that means her little just-went-#2-toosh in not sitting on the toilet where it should be. Sure enough, the toosh is not on the toilet but SITTING on the sink. Are you kidding me? I tell her to get off the sink NOW. She promptly does so but leaves a nice streak, if ya know what I mean. Ugh. really? I begrudgingly get a rag and cleaner so I can clean up the mess. As I'm wiping it off Maddie says is a very sticky sweet voice, "Mom, I love you." To which I mumble sarcastically under my breath, "Do you?" I didn't think she heard me but I as I turned to look at her she's looking up at me batting her eyes and crossing her hands over her heart and says, "this means I love you... in sign language. See, I really DO love you."


Thursday, November 5, 2009

A whirlwind of fun

The kids have been exceptionally hilarious lately but that will just have to wait...

I have a TON of pictures from one of the best weekends of the year. Halloween and Maddie's birthday. And Jim and Kris were here to join in the festivities with us.


I love how all these pictures tell the exact story of what when on at "the orange park" (as Maddie and Lyndon call it) this lovely Fall morning...

Just take note of WHO are the ones playing all over the jungle gym... :)
































I can just hear them discussing their plans now as I look at this picture. Jim and Jonathon came up with a brilliant plan...a timed obstacle course. Starting with monkey bars, flying over the climbing wall and sprinting down the stairs to just name a few of the obstacles. Kris and I threatened that the hospital would be a bad place to spend a vacation but it just fell on deaf ears. I must say it was very entertaining watching them compete. I also must add that it did look so much fun that Maddie, Lyndon and I all had to try it out at least a couple times. Kris would have been on board as well except that she was still recovering from out last game night in Nebraska where she broke and dislocated her toe. Yes, we take our game playing to the extremes in this family.




Kris taking the kids on a little walk. They LOVE their Grandma and Grandpa.






















Now for Halloween...
This year Kris made the costumes for the kids. Maddie was the purple fairy from Tinkerbell. Kris did such an amazing job on their costumes. They are perfect down the the last detail. On a side note: Kris made Jonathon and I costumes the first year we were married. Mine is Dorothy and Jonathon's is the scarecrow.
Without fail, whenever we have worn those costumes to a costume contest we win. every time.



























...and Lyndon was a Ninja!! ...Or should I say LYN-JA! Yeah, we have some pretty darn fortunate kids who have both grandma's who will not only make them ANY costume their little hearts desire but are also so creative that they think of things like Lyn-ja! How cool is that?






























I threw this picture in because it makes me laugh just looking at it. That's Lyndon all the way...smiling and running.



We are just about ready to go trick-or-treating and what is Lyndon doing? ... eating a cupcake. Mother of the year... right here.

















I love these two...



The shear amount of candy is sickening. Remember when getting a candy bar or anything chocolate was so rare? Now that's the majority of their bags!











At least he wanted a little water to go with all his sugar.




Maddie's Birthday...
Phew, what a whirlwind of fun events! This one jam packed, fun day. We started out with opening gifts.








Lyndon was upset that he didn't get to join in the fun.












There's a gift for Lyndon! Phew, that was close.






Maddie got some amazing gifts. It was extra special thanks to Jim and Kris and my Mom and Dad. Maddie loves her gifts, we really appreciate it.
After we opened gifts we went to the outlet mall, then straight to Maddie and Lyndon's favorite place in the whole (a close second goes to...The Dollar Store) ...Chuck E. Cheese!! It was pizza, games, music, games, tickets, games and prizes. Everything Maddie could ask for.
Then later that evening we went to The Oasis on Lake Travis for dinner. It is so nice there. Good food, beautiful and relaxing. The perfect end to the evening.




The birthday girl.

When we got home we finished off the night with cake and ice cream. Pink balloons, pink cake, pink frosting, and pick ice cream...of course.
I loved this...When we finished singing to her she closed her eyes and make a wish...


...then blew out the candles.
Unfortunately, Jim and Kris had to leave early the next morning. Talk about a depressing day. ...for all of us.
Dear Maddie,
I can't even wrap my head around the fact that you are 4 years old. How is that even possible? I swear it was just yesterday that you were just a tiny little baby staying up all night and sleeping the day away. I love every little thing about you. I love that you still have that little speech impediment that Daddy and I still can never mimick. I love that you want to be me. I love that you are a little pack rat. I love that you bat your eyes at me thinking it's going to help your cause. I love what an amazing big sister you are. I love your hard core infactuation with anything pink and girly. Sometimes I look at you and I can't believe how beautiful you are. I love you with all my heart my Maddie girl. I'm gld you had such a magical birthday.
Love Always,
Mommy