ahhh, the sweetest thing.

Guess what I got to do today?...

Just take a wild guess...

Okay, I'll tell you.

this.

Fun day, or what?

Our Friends, Joe and Natalie, had a little girl...6 days ago. Can we get a collective "ahhhhh"? Her name is Drew Naomi and she is just as precious as she can get. We had an enjoyable afternoon just laying around. Okay, she layed around, I played, uh worked.

enjoy.

(more to come on the Photography blog.)

perspective

While Maddie did this:

Lyndon and I did this:

I love days like today.

Days where it seems that everything is going right. The house is clean (for the most part), the dishes are done, laundry's put away, the kids are napping and I can hear Jonathon finishing up the guitars for his cd in the next room. I also hear the rain splashing on the driveway and falling on the windows. Yes, life is good. Remember when you were a kid and how you felt on Friday afternoons when you got home from school? free. jubilant. energized. You didn't have a care in the world...you could sleep in the next day, watch Saturday morning cartoons and not go to school for 2 whole days.

It's all about having the right perspective though, right?

You see, I've been in this exact situation before...clean house, dishes done, kids napping...but yet I didn't feel the peace that I feel today. It's all about my perspective and having faith. Not everyday is meant to be perfect. believe me. I have many days that are meant to teach me and help me grow. (i.e. when the kids won't listen, when the bills come but the $ is gone, when I look in the mirror and feel less than beautiful, etc.) These days are not meant to ruin us but rather to give us experience for self growth. Only in the last several months have I REALLY figured this out. Only because I've been through some low and disappointing moments have I learned how to rise above and how to find sunshine in rain. Trials and tribulations have only made me a better and happier person.

So even though our house is in desperate need of a paint job (simmer down HOA, we're getting on it), our lawn is a disaster, we don't have millions in the bank, our front room is unfurnished, Jonathon's cd is still not done (but EXTREMELY CLOSE, details soon) and all our bathrooms will probably never be clean at the same time...

I am still happier than I have ever been.

Ahhh, isn't a little perspective nice?

Ode to the DVR

Tell me if this has ever happened to you...

You're driving around listening to the radio when the DJ says something you don't quite catch so your first instinct is to...

rewind him.

I've become DEPENDANT on our DVR remote. Is there a rehab for that? Since I'm looking I should probably find some help for my Cap'n Crunch addiction as well. (it's true, I'm still eating abnormal amounts of it. I think I crossed the line when I put some in a zip-lock bag and snuck it into "Confessions of a Shop-a-holic" on Friday night.)

And the cherry on the top came when I was talking to someone at church and I didn't hear the last thing she said so what's my first thought?

Where's my remote so I can rewind her. It's official, I'm a DVR-a-holic.

Maddie girl

Maddie and I had a little fun after I put Lyndon to bed this afternoon. She picked out her outfit, from head to toe. I wanted to get some pictures of her and her "stuff". She has always been a little pack rat. She finds treasures and then stuffs as many treasures as possible in a bag or purse until either a) the bag breaks or b) she gets too frustrated that it won't close. Her usual favorite treasures are necklaces (of course), dogs, leashes, rings, make-up, misc. princess paraphernalia.
I love (well hate, really) that she never looks at the camera. I love it though, cause that's just Maddie. Smiles on her own agenda. She smiling and happy 90% of the day but it's rare that I get a genuine smiley picture of her. It's just not her "thing", I guess.

I can't leave with out a good Maddie story...right?

A few nights ago we we're all having a little sword fighting war. Lyndon got a sword in his Easter basket but all of us were just finding whatever we could that would make do. What does Maddie find to use? a bat. Ouch. She was pretty safe with it but it was still scary to have a 3 year old swinging a bat close enough to your face that you could a feel a slight breeze.

So Jonathon, being the protector that he is, traded Maddie for his foam sword. We thought it would be safer for HIM to have a bat than it was for Maddie. we THOUGHT. During their round of fighting Jonathon got a little too carried away and accidentally hit Maddie on her hand. It hurt. He felt like crap, by the way. She had to take a breather. We could tell she was in pain but she sucked it up, raised her sword and said,

"Let's do it again, Dad. This time just try to not hit my hand."

She's 3 going on 30...

Buddy Boy

After Lyndon got out of the bathtub he ran off to the other room while I was getting Maddie out. He was a little too quiet. I was getting nervous. What was he doing? ...nothing much---just using Jonathon's shirt as a cape, putting on maddie's lipstick and twirling her beads around his head...

People are drawn to Lyndon. Or maybe they're just drawn to him because he insists on it. When he sees someone--friend or stranger--he immediately shoots out his hand and repeats,

"Hi, Hi, Hewwo (hello), Hi, Hewwo..."

...until they return the friendly gesture. I love him for that. How can anyone resisit those big blue eyes and red shaggy hair. I know I can't.


For the past couple months if Maddie is tired, hurt, sick, uncomfortable, crabby, (anything really), she will say (whine),

"I want my daddy."

She's used it far too much to get much sympathy out of me. We were driving when I hear Maddie say her famous line..."I want my daddy." And just as I was about to respond Lyndon sighs and takes the words right out of my mouth...

"I know."

My night to shine

Have you ever watched somebody perform or do something on TV and thought, Hey, I bet I could do that--and do a darn good job at it.

You know when you used to watch Double Dare and the team would be trying to complete a physical challenge and they just couldn't pull it out? Or when they would be trying to complete all those obstacles (like sticking their whole arm up that giant nose to find the flag) but they were never be able to grab the flag cause they were slipping and sliding all over the place? I used to always think, if only I could be there... I would rock it, I could totally crawl through a tube drenched in Hershey syrup.

Well, I had a similar experience. Yesterday during my run at the gym I watched "Dancing With the Stars". As I was watching I thought, Hummm, I bet I could do that. Dance, that it. Side note: I have NEVER in my life EVER done any type of dancing. I never took dance as a kid or was involved in any type of dance class. Nonetheless, I knew if I was just given the chance, I could dance it up like nobody's business.

So today as I was looking at the new class schedule for 24 hour fitness I noticed a new class...ZUMBA. This was my chance.

Heaven help us.

This was the description of the class: This workout combines high energy and motivating music with synchronized dance movements designed for any fitness level. Here it was, my chance to shine on the dance floor.

Oh, I shined all right.

I ended up in the front of the class. Great. Throughout the class, I would look over at my instructor to try and figure out her dance moves. When I thought I had it I would glance forward at myself in the mirror to see what I really had. I had nothing. It was brutal. I couldn't believe my body was producing those horrific terribly gawky dance moves. I seriously had no rhythm. It was shameful. At one point we were doing this twirly movement with our hands while trying to keep our feet and hips moving to the rhythm. Uh, sure. As I was contorting my body to try and mimic my graceful instructor I heard her say, "Come on guys, try to make this beautiful." I swear she was looking directly at me.

So I wasn't an amazing dancer like I thought I could be. Oh, well. There's still double dare, right?

I'll take the physical challange, Mark.

Gotta love the Cap'n

I love Capn' Crunch with berries.

Love.

Love them.

When I was growing up sweet cereal was scarce in our family. Not because of the sugar content. (My Mom didn't care how much sugar we put on our cereal. And we put a lot.) I'm pretty sure it was because it was more expensive then toasty O's, Crispie Rice, and corn flakes. (Those were pretty much the only cereals my parents ever bought.) Occasionally my Mom would buy sugar puffs...oh sugar puffs, how I loved them. I can remember when she would get home from the grocery store and I would spot them when I was helping her put away the groceries. I would always stop right then and there and have a bowl. They only lasted about a day. We inhaled them. (Sometimes I even crave them now.)

So because sweet cereal was such a hot commodity at our house, we had the tradition of getting our favorite box (not bag, mind you) of sweet cereal Christmas morning with our stocking. It may sound weird to you but it was THE BEST tradition. I seriously looked forward to it every year. And what kind of cereal did I get EVERY year?...Cap'n Crunch with CHRISTMAS berries, of course.

This morning I opened up a new box of my favorite cereal. It smelled like Christmas morning. I ate Cap'n Cruch for breakfast. Ate handfuls of it all morning. Ate a sandwich for lunch. had Cap'n Crunch for dessert. Ate handfuls of it all afternoon. Ate Cap'n Crunch for dinner and had handfuls of it for dessert.

Somebody PLEASE stop me!

And the scary thing is...I'm contemplating going down and getting another handful when I'm done with this post.

here I go...

Good days

Maddie dressed herself today...and found a cozy place for her baby.

Don't mind the panties...
Maddie has always been an organized player. She likes to collect random treasures and stack them, line them up, put them in bags etc. After her toy line up she decided she would use them as stepping stones. Wouldn't you?




Here' s a good story...

About 3 years ago we went to Disney World with Jim, Kris and Rachael (Jonathon's family). We were in MGM when we passed by one of those Delicious Disney Bakery's. You know the ones...where they have GIGANTIC rice-crispy treat mickey's and HUGE Carmel apples displayed in the windows to lure you in.

Well, I LOVE a good caramel apple so as we passed I mentioned how yummy they looked. Being the amazing father-in-law that he is, Jim went right in and bought me a scrumptious caramel apple. I waited to eat it until we got back to the hotel. All of us were sitting around talking so I got my caramel apple out to eat. I took a huge bite and I was in HEAVEN. The caramel was just the right stickiness and the apple was tart and juicy. (I wouldn't expect any thing less from Disney, right?) Seriously, it was amazing. During the entire time I was devouring this apple I kept commenting how delicious and perfect it was. Over and over.

It wasn't until the next day that I learned how much Jim LOVED caramel apples too. He just couldn't eat one because he just got braces on his teeth. I felt like the biggest LOSER! Here I was going no-stop about how amazing this caramel apple was and Jim, who bought me the apple, was just listening wishing he could have a caramel apple too.

He was such a good sport about it. I've gotten lots of teasing about it since. Rightly so.

So I vowed that as soon as he got his braces off, I would send him a caramel apple. They are certainly not as good as Disney, but it's the thought that counts, right? :)

The kids helped me. Uh, MADDIE helped me, Lyndon just did this:

Maddie, waiting for the caramel to melt...








I HAD to make myself one too. I like them with chocolate and nuts. (Jim and Kris: I didn't know how the chocolate would do in the mail so that why you just got a plain old caramel one. But I would be MORE than happy to make you one with Chocolate. Is that enough to lure you to Texas?)



The finished product...3 years in the making!

It rained for a few days last week so our backyard is looking even shabbier than normal. Maddie, being the optimist that she is, looked out and said, "Oh, look at the beautiful bushes and flowers that we're growing! Isn't it wonderful!"

And all I could see was over grown grass and weeds. Bah Humbug.

Just a few pictures of the kids playing on the back porch...

Yes, he's jumping. He doesn't ever slow down.

Maddie gave her first actual talk in primary yesterday. She was SO EXCITED. She got to choose the topic...she choose "Easter", of course. I'm sure she wanted to talk about eggs and candy but we focused more on the resurrection side. :) I wrote out her talk and drew pictures so she could remember what it said. Jonathon and I were sitting in the back of the Primary room until it was time for her to talk. She sat on the "Talk" chair up front. Every 10 seconds or so she would look back at us with a huge grin and flash us 2 thumbs up. She was pumped.

When it was her turn to give the talk she promptly walked right up, pulled out the stool, stepped up and then pulled the microphone down to her mouth. Just as we rehearsed. She needed just small prompts with each line but other then that she remembered what to say. At the very end she said, "I love Jesus, I love Easter...pause..." and then she leaned right into the microphone and said really fast, "I love Jack and Sally and the Nightmar Before Christmas!"

That's our girl.

Oh Boy!

I need some help...seriously.

Let me just start by saying that Lyndon isn't a naughty kid. He's really not. Does in he get in trouble now and then? You bet. But he really doesn't mean to be bad.

Until tonight.

Oh, tonight.

After my workout I promised to take Maddie to "The Children's Place" to get some sunglasses...if she was a good listener and didn't whine. (We're constantly working on both.) So, true my word, Maddie, Lyndon and I head on over.

I knew I was in a bit of a pickle when we started the whole shopping experience by Lyndon kicking the whole rack of flip flops (sending them flying off everywhere) as I tried to try a pair on him. Just breathe, I told myself. So I calmly push him away from all the merchandise but as I'm pushing him through the isles he's pulling off every single neatly stacked pile of shirts and pants within his reach. All of a sudden I'm THAT mom. You know, the one whose kid is destroying the store and she can't seem to control him. I would've just left right then and there but I didn't feel it was fair to Maddie who still needed to pick out her sunglasses. I decided to just park him in the middle of the biggest isle where he was out of reach of everything. Just until Maddie can pick out her glasses and we can get the heck out of there. Besides, what harm could he do buckled in to a stroller without anything to touch, right?

Wrong.

The sneaky little thing started to thrust his body forward and backward to move the whole stroller! (This is a DOUBLE stroller, mind you.) Oh yeah, AND the brakes were on. (I start to chuckle every time I start thinking about it now but at the time...not so funny.)

The next thing I know he's made his way over to yet ANOTHER table of neatly folded shirts. You know the drill. Somebody... help me.

Thankfully Maddie finally picked out the sunglasses and we were able to get out of there with only a handful of stares, glares and sympathy nods.

I expect great things out of this kid...because apparently nothing's gonna hold him down, not even being buckled in a stroller.

Let's hear it for EASTER!

This morning Lyndon picked out this baby Einstein dvd. I took a glance at the cover and said, "Is that a frog?" Maddie immediately broke in and said,

"No Mommy, you're silly, that's a lizard."

I looked at the cover again and I wasn't convinced. It looked like a frog to me. Luckily (I thought) Jonathon just came around the corner so I held up the dvd and said, "What's this?"

"A lizard."

Without even skipping a beat we instantly hear Maddie's little voice behind us whisper a triumphant,

"yyyyes."

We had a fantastic Easter weekend. On Saturday we were invited to the Annual Egg hunt out at the Dials house. They have a great big red barn behind their house. We parked and as I got Lyndon out of the car he spotted the barn and started chanting, "E-I-E-I-O, E-I-E-I-O". I love him.

Right before the hunt was about to begin, Lyndon found this baseball. A far better treasure than any old plastic egg.

Maddie insisted on wearing her hood the whole time. (So glad I spent so much time making her hair look so cute under that silly hood.)

This where Lyndon was drawn to the entire evening...

I'm sure the boys loved having a little tyke standing right underneath the basket shouting, "BA, BA, BA!" (ball) They were actually really nice about him wanting to play. They let him shoot baskets and feel like "one of the gang".

And THIS is where Maddie parked it immediately after the egg hunt. If there's candy in her possession, she's not gonna wait any time to dig into it.

They found a little patch of flowers to frolic in...

Good bye, flowers. Maddie has no use for flowers when there's a dog around...

Notice what color ALL her eggs are (pick and purple) except one...how did that yellow guy sneak in there? (I bet she took it from Lyndon because it had a good piece of candy in it.)

Thank you DIALS!!! We had an awesome time. It was great seeing so many of our long lost friends. I love that even though we don't get to see much of each other we're able to just pick up where we left off. That's the sign of a good friend.

On to the egg dying..

So the kids were excited about coloring eggs...

...for about 3 minutes.

After we wouldn't let them dip their own hands in the dye, they soon lost interest.

So Jonathon and I ended up coloring the eggs ourselves while the kids looked on.

This Maddie laughing at Jonathon making faces at her above my head...

Easter Morning!

The Easter bunny was good this year...(lucky for us our 2 free blu ray's came in the mail on Saturday! Perfect timing to just add them to the kids baskets!)

Lyndon's basket...

It was a "ball" theme. He's really into balls these days.

Maddie's basket...

I love this picture...

showing off his new sword AND eating candy.

Maddie's been liking the "Little Critter" books lately.

Check out this kids hair...wild man.

When Maddie saw her movie she exclaimed,

"The "Nightmare Before Christmas"...ON BLU RAY!!" We didn't even know she knew what blu ray was.

I was standing by the table when I heard Maddie say, "Hey Buddy, do you want me to help you open that?"

Oh, I love when they get along.

Easter Photo Shoot..kind of.

Showing her muscles...

He's pretending to sneeze here...Ah, Ah Choo!

Classic Maddie. Classic Lyndon (copying Maddie).

Where the heck did he get that candy in his mouth?

Easter was pretty much a free for all when it came to eating candy. But let me tell you, we paid the price.

And it was a BITTER pill to swallow.

2 am...Lyndon wasn't able to hold on to all that candy and let it all go...if ya know what I mean.

On the bright side, he hasn't asked for candy ONCE all day. He's learned his lesson and so have I.

We were able to spend Easter dinner with our good friends at Gina and Jamie's house. It was so YUMMY! Great food and even better friends. Thanks guys, for the perfect end to a wonderful day.