Random

Just wanted to post a few random things that we have been up to....(Please excuse the horrible camera phone pictures. These days it's too much work to lug around my big camera and a baby.)

The kids had their first dental appointment a few weeks ago. I scheduled both Charles and Madison's appointments back to back and it worked out great!!! Charles actually went to the dentist last summer for the 1st time but they didn't really do much by way of a real cleaning. The hygienist was not very good and Charles was VERY nervous so he was a little uncooperative (Or so she said.) She basically used a tooth brush to gently brush his teeth and then only did x-rays on one side. So this appointment I'm counting as his 1st REAL cleaning. Charles went first and did SO GOOD! We all (me and the girls) got to sit in the room with him. Which was really good because Madison was able to watch him and see that it wasn't really that bad. She was very excited for her turn. They both did great. They even did really good for the x-rays. Charles had a few more cavities, as we expected. But Madison had NONE!!! I was shocked. She is my little sugaraholic. When the dentist came in the room to look at the x-rays he was looking at Madison's and said to me "any concerns mom?" I looked at him and said, "She eats a LOT of candy" he then said "Well whose fault is that." (It sounds kind of mean but he did not say it mean at all. He is actually very nice.) Yeah I know. So we've been working harder to keep the kids teeth clean so that we have no more cavities.

 We've taken the kids out for a bike ride after dinner a few times and Madison falls asleep EVERY time! I will all of a sudden hear screaming from the trailer and then look back and see Madison slumped over onto Claudia. But once I stop the bike and come to see her Claudia is ALL SMILES!!!

The last week of school Charles received a couple of improvement awards at school. They also did a little graduation ceremony in the classroom. I really can't believe that the school year is over. (Well has been over for almost a month now, I'm a little behind.) 

We have a "To do List" of things we want to do this summer, on the list is "make a fort" Daddy decided to make a fort with the kids the other day

 They LOVED it, but I think he got a little carried away! He took not only the sheets and blankets off our bed, but he took the mattress off our bed and Madison's bed. He would have taken Charles' mattress too but Claudia was asleep in his room. John saw that I was not so happy about his great idea so he made them a New one in the loft with sheets instead of mattresses. I wish I had of taken a picture of it!

 Claudia got a hold of one of the kids markers and decided she needed a mustache! No I think she was trying to eat it! Good thing it was a washable one.

 Madison was invited to her friend Elizabeth's house for a princess play date. We had my niece Megan that day so my sister-n-law could take the boys to the beach. We traded, I got Megan and she got Ryan. It was great!!! I had an ALL girls day!!! So Megan came along with us to Elizabeth's and the girls had a blast. Kim is such a great mom. She plans fun things for Elizabeth and helps her to learn and have fun every day! I really want to be more like her!!!

 They made Crowns and Princess Puppets! So CUTE!!!! Thanks Kim, it was so much fun!!!!

Madison

 

I am SO in LOVE with Madison, well actually we have a LOVE/Hate relationship. She is super sweet and fun and generally pretty loving but she is still 3. Which means very stubborn and opinionated. She LOVES everything PINK and GIRLY. Except brushing her hair.

(This is not what it looks like every morning. This was after we had gone swimming the afternoon before, it dried in a ponytail and then she yanked out the ponytail before bed and went right to sleep. I did NOT let her leave the house like this. I fed her breakfast and then she went right into the tub. I was really tempted to just cut it. But I am not prepared for that melt down. From her or John.)

The other night for Family Home Evening John was giving a lesson about choosing the right. Madison turns to me and says "Do we choose the Right or the Left." It was so funny and cute!

Just this morning I was telling her we were going to the park to play and she said oh I'm going to tell my friend Sarah about my jammies (Sarah gave Madison the jammies she had on, we loves hand me downs) I told her Sarah was not going to be there. She went and got her play phone and came back and told me she just texted Sarah. Haha!!!! So Funny!!!! We are really living in a digital world!

If you give Madison a q-tip she will not stick it anywhere near her ear. This little lady thinks that q-tips are used for your eyeballs. It is so funny! She usually comes into my bedroom as I'm finishing my make-up so she doesn't see whole routine. When I put my mascara on I am more concerned about getting my lashes to look good then getting the mascara all over my face. So once my eyelashes look good then I just take a q-tip stick it in my mouth to get it wet and clean up around my eye. So that is what Madison thinks a q-tip is for, only she doesn't clean around her eye she tried to clean her eye BALL. But she does stick it in her mouth first. It so funny to watch I think I need to take a picture.

Madison needs Chocolate milk in the morning like non-LDS people need Coffee. She is grumpy until she gets it. So she goes down stairs to get some from John and he asks her if chocolate milk is her favorite. She looks at him and says "Not the milk part" Hahaha!

We LOVE our MADISON!!! Attitude and all!!!!

9 Months!!!!

My baby is now 9 months and I love it!!! She is generally happy and smiles ALL the time. She is a total mamma's girl but is still really friendly to all she comes in contact with. When she smiles her eyes just light up! It's so adorable. 

We went to the doctors about a week ago and she is doing great!!! 

She weighs 16 lbs. 8 oz. and is almost 27 inches. I didn't get her exact head measurement but it is in the 75th percentile. So for weight she is in the 10-15th percentile and for height she is in the 25th percentile, following after her big brother, small body and BIG head. To keep their big brains safe!

She is right on track developmentally. She has started to cruise a little but is mastering just standing without holding on anything!! She’s so proud of herself when she lets go. She is starting to eat more solid foods and doesn’t really like me to feed her with a spoon anymore. I’ve gotten creative by feeding her with a straw. She seems to like it and can down a container of baby food very quickly. Her 2^nd tooth just popped in this week so she has been constantly chewing on everything!!! She’s stopped doing the raspberries and has moved onto babbling. She really entertains herself with it.  She still was not sleeping through the night at about 8 ½ months and I was DONE with waking up to feed her when I knew she was getting plenty of food during the day. So one night she woke up just as John and I were going to bed, I decided this would be the night, so I just let her cry it out. I lay in bed for a while but couldn’t handle listening to her cry. So I went downstairs to work on a project I had be putting off. Every once in a while I would check the baby monitor to see if she was still awake. An hour and 45 minutes later and she finally went to sleep. She did not cry the whole time just off and on. Sometimes more screaming than crying but it only took one night. She has been sleeping through the night ever since. I guess she caught on quickly. Then I was annoyed that I had waited to so long to do it. I could have done this months ago. Or maybe she wouldn’t have been ready then. But it has been great! She now sleeps from 7:30-6, nurses at 6 then goes back to sleep until about 7:30. And now Mommy gets to sleep! It’s great!!! 
We absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE our little Miss Claudia. She is such a joy to have in our family. The kids adore her and she is starting to play independently more and more. 
We had our first adventure in the pool yesterday. She did REALLY good. No screaming or crying. She did want to get out of her little floaty thing a few times and have mommy hold her but she hadn't taken a good nap all day and was just really tired. I guess now we are ready for summer and a LOT more pool time.

♫♫♫ These are a Few of my FAVORITE Things ♫♫♫

Over the past several months I have found some NEW Loves; must have items and I thought I'd share them so here goes.....

#1

I was searching for a spray n wash type of pre-treatment that I can use on my laundry that is also not too expensive. Since my kids somehow manage to get their WHOLE shirt dirty I could be going through bottles of spray n wash like crazy. So I searching the Internet in hopes of a good home made solution. And wa-la! I found one. It is really pretty simple and does great for food stains.  Basically you take a spray bottle and fill it with HOT tap water and then add some dish soap. (I've been using Gain because that's what I had and I think any brand would work.) It has been great, it gets all those yucky greasy food stains out. And if the stain is really bad just let it sit for a day or so. No messy build-up or residue. It is AWESOME and totally cheap!!!! And I have not had any problems with it fading clothes or damaging the color where it has been sprayed or left on for days.

On to my 2nd new love....

I combine my NEW pre-treating stain remover with this wonderful laundry soap and have been getting our clothes wonderfully clean!!!!

This stuff is AMAZING!!!! It really does help get stains out of my kids clothes. 

And now for my 3rd new LOVE....

Fabric Softener! We have REALLY Hard water here and this stuff has been FABULOUS!!! I don't know why it took me so long to break down and buy this stuff. It makes EVERYTHING feel so much better. My clothes feel as smooth as butter. I love it!  All I can say is WOW!!!!

Could you tell I had some issues with LAUNDRY. One of my least favorite chores but it never seems to be done or go away! (Hmm living in a nudest colony sounds pretty good right about now, NO Laundry...........

yeah right! Never would that be an option!!! Not for this chicka!)

#4  I found my NEW all time FAVORITE cleaning tool....

   

This is the Eureka 313A Enviro Hard-Surface Floor Steamer. It's FABULOUS!!!! I no longer have to mop with a dirty mop and bucket that just keeps rubbing the dirt around the floor or scrub the nasty sticky spots on my hands and knees. This amazing little machine does it all. It makes my floors sparkle and best of all it uses NO chemicals so once again cheap!!!! And no funny cleanser smell when you are done!

#5 This one is not a house hold item but it was my lifesaver in preparing for my race and I mentioned it in my previous post. 

KT Tape

I Love love love this stuff!!!!!  (Thanks Kenna for introducing me to it!)