The Nutcracker

Look who we saw at the Nutcracker?! Sydnie!


Madeline really enjoyed our special date night this year. We went to see the Nutcracker ballet. Just the two of us.


She got a pink drink- sprite with a splash of grenadine and a cherry.


She wore a beautiful dress that cousins Hannah and Alyssa gave us. We accessorized with pearls, a tiara, and a fake fur chubby.


We had a really good time. It was our first time to the ballet.

Pancakes with Santa

Grampsy Pampsy was the Charter President of the local chapter of the Lion's Club. He is very active in that organization and gets up early on Saturdays once a month to go to the community center and make pancakes. Dad is the official pancake flipper. In December they invite Santa to come and see the children and this year we went and took the kids. Gramps made Madeline a Mickey Mouse pancake. The kids chowed down. Madeline's best friend Sydnie was there with her family so that was a fun surprise. Tucker was NOT fond of Santa but he did want to talk to him- as long as I was holding him. He told Santa he wanted a train. We'll see...Madeline wants a flying purple unicorn toy...hmmm...we'll have to see if Santa comes through with that one too...





Madeline, Sydnie, and Santa

Madeline's Last MDO Christmas Program

Madeline performed in her last MDO Christmas program a couple of weeks ago. She was great. I had gone in a few days before the program to write all of the kids' names on their sweatshirts and cried while doing it! It hit me that this was her last little pre-k Christmas program! So, Madeline went out with a bang! The first song was "Joy to the World" and Madeline sang the loudest, the most out of key, and about 3 beats behind everyone else! It was so funny. She was standing next to her little friend Paige and the two of them are so competitive with one another. I think she was trying to out sing Paige. It helped me laugh through the program instead of crying!

Sugar and spice and sometimes nice

You just never know about mornings with Madeline. Some mornings are great- she gets up, turns on cartoons, I make hot chocolate milk, she gets dressed, brushes her teeth and we are out the door. But rarely does it go that easily. Lately they have been very difficult. She fights with me about what to wear so I put all of her clothes in her drawers and told her she could pick out her own outfits and dress herself from now on (this is a BIG deal for me). This morning I asked her to go and get dressed saying over and over as she moved slowly toward her room, "thank you!" and, "good job!". I was about to go and dress Tucker when I peeked in her room (after like 10 minutes) and she was standing there in her gymnastics leotard and nothing else. Today is a school day, not gymnastics day. I got really angry and told her to put on school clothes NOW! She told me that that was the outfit she had put on just to pick out books for her babies. I was only half listening and told her again to get dressed and then I got home and saw this...





And even though I'm justified in being frustrated that we are late EVERY morning to school, I do have to laugh at the fact that OF COURSE my daughter has to have an outfit specifically for picking out books for her babies. I have to have the right outfit for every occasion too. Not that I'm fancy and perfect all the time but the right outfit does make the task at hand more enjoyable.



And as I go about my "morning chores" this is the pile I have picked up in the living room of Madeline's things to be put away. I love my little girl. Her silky, a tiara, a wand, sleeping beauty socks, her ballet slippers, a princess book, and a barbie computer. A sea of princess pink. I think I'll pick out a special "play princess with Madeline" outfit for the afternoon.

To all the baby mammas, baby mamma's mammas

That's my Mom in the middle. My Aunt next to her. They're both great.


My lovely Mother in Law, Kaye




Madeline's precious friends. Rebekah is Bo Peep's Mommy





I haven't posted much here since Halloween. Because I have been worn out. Thanksgiving is coming but feels like a more laid back "holiday" than Halloween. Next year we are doing Halloween. Period. Not Trunk or Treat, MDO Halloween Party, Saturday Halloween and Sunday Halloween. It was too much. My the time Sunday Halloween rolled around the kids didn't care. Madeline wasn't going to wear her wig, Tucker was sick of Elmo and both of them just wanted to eat their candy!

Preparation for Halloween takes effort for moms. We are the ones who care if the kids look cute. Perhaps I need to re-evaluate my expectations because my kids' only expectation is candy.

So here I want to post the phone call I made to my friend Rebekah after a particularly difficult day and I dedicate this post to all the moms out there...

Ring Ring

Rebekah: Hello?

Me: Hi, I need to tell you something and if your husband and children already tell you all of this then I am happy for you, truly, truly, happy but just in case they don't- or haven't yet- I want to tell you THANK YOU.

Thank you for always looking great. At church, at trunk or treat, whenever I get to see you you look great. You are clean, well put together, your hair is clean, you smell good, and I know how hard all of that is to accomplish. Thank you. I notice that you always look great.

I appreciate all of the effort that it took to make your kids look so incredibly precious tonight. I don't know how hard it was to get your kids dressed up in their costumes but for me it was like herding cats. Mean screaming cats. Thank you for sharing your precious children with me. I really enjoyed seeing them and they looked wonderful. They always do. They are always clean. Their hair is always brushed. Their outfits are so carefully picked out with care and love. They are polite, sweet, and wonderful and I love seeing them.

Rebekah: (Laughing) No, no one told me that tonight, thank you. I feel the same about you and your kids.

Me: Thanks. I needed that. I'm depressed tonight. It's hard to be a mom. There is a lot of work and very little thanks sometimes.


Our conversation continued for a while but you get the gist...Thank you. Thank you to all of you wonderful mothers out there who care. Thank you to my mother. I know I was exactly like Madeline and although she is the love of my life she is also my biggest challenge in life at times. I am tested every day to do the right thing. I know I did the same to my mom- so thanks mom. Thank you thank you thank you. To my mother in law- I didn't know you when your children were small but I see the care and effort you put into their lives as adults and I admire you. Thank you. Thank you for baking coconut cream pies and frying okra for Tyler because I don't know how (and don't take the time to learn). Thank you for hosting and feeding us every other Sunday and loading and unloading the dishwasher at least twice during our visits.

I am so blessed that I have the ability to buy my kids Halloween costumes and that we live in a community that hosts so many events for kids. I know I am blessed. I thank God for all the opportunities I have and the wonderful life I have. I don't mean to sound unappreciative or burdened by any of it...I just want to say thanks to all of the moms that perhaps don't hear the thanks they should. I pray that I do a good enough job that when M is 33 she might take a minute to say, "thank you."

Tucker the bully

So, Tucker has finally realized that he is big enough to 1. defend himself against his sister's "love"
2. beat her up for all of the "love" she has given him for the last 21 months.

Madeline really does love Tucker. She worries about him, wants desperately to hold him/ help with him/ take care of him. One of her little friends has a brother who is the same age as Tucker but he is smaller. Madeline's friend can pick up and hold her baby brother still. And he lets her. I think Madeline wishes she could treat Tucker like her baby. Tucker has never been much on being babied. He has always been too curious and strong to be babied.

All this leading to this-

Tuesday night Tyler had a budget meeting that would run late so I hung out with the kids staying up a little later than normal and letting Madeline eat waffles in the living room. First, Tucker stole her milk. Madeline rushed him and got it back and stuck it up high on the back of the couch so he couldn't reach it. Then he ate her waffle. It was in her lap and he just kept running over, stealing bites, and running off laughing and stuffing his mouth. Then she had to go potty. I won't get too descriptive here but she was literally defenseless with her pants down and Tucker went walking into the bathroom (I thought just because he wanted to be with her) and hit her in the face (twice) with his transformer. She started crying and Tucker ran past me as I ran in. I comforted her, calmed her down, and told Tucker to come back in and apologize. He told her he was "sawy" and kissed her on her welps. I told Madeline I would take his transformer away and take other toys away if he ever hit her on purpose again. That made her feel better- that he would have to be accountable- and we went back into the living room to join Tucker.

We found him kicked back on the couch, all by himself, looking very proud, and drinking Madeline's milk.

Pumpkin Patch

So, I LOVE the pumpkin patch. L.O.V.E. This year was great. Madeline always has fun there but this year Tucker loved it too. They have donkeys and chickens and cows and horses there too. We had a great evening. We stayed until dark drinking lemonade, eating strawberry ice slushes and corn dogs. I have such great expectations for the day every year and hope to get great pictures but I've come to realize that MY expectations are not what matter so much- the kids expectations of animals, tractor rides, fair food and playgrounds are what matter. And although I didn't get the best pictures this year and my camera went dead I'll keep the images of the day in my head forever.























The kids look too big in these pictures. Tucker had his second haircut last Friday and he looks so grown up to me. Tyler says he just looks like a normal kid now without a mullet. Happy Fall everyone! Halloween pictures to come!

Casual Friday

Tyler wore a bright turquoise-y blue shirt to work today with jeans. He came home early to take us to the pumpkin patch (by far one of my favorite yearly events). I asked him, "as a courtesy to me," to go and change his shirt so that he might blend in with his families' fall attire. He disappeared for a bit and came back into the living room wearing a Hawaiian shirt. This is what it is like being married to my husband.

Eventually he changed.

Catch Up

My pretty girl seems to get bigger and more beautiful every day.


She had her first friend over for a sleepover a couple of weeks ago and we made t shirts!


Last weekend Madeline wanted to stay at her Mimi and Papa's so Tucker and I had a morning to ourselves and a mini photo shoot.














This is what Tucker looked like the morning after the girls' sleepover. He was up as late as they were!


Madeline and her friend Sydnie- her buddy since they were 18 months!


Madeline's castle. I think it is pretty amazing. She was only able to accomplish this because Tucker was asleep.

The ZOO!

Sunday was beautiful. We taught Sunday School at church that morning to the 2 year olds and then went home to get ready and go to the zoo. Madeline and Tucker's babysitter, Emily (who is our wonderful 20 year old family friend- I used to be her teacher) had sent me a text on Saturday asking what we were doing for the rest of the weekend. She wanted to spend some time with the kids. How wonderful is that?! So, we invited Emily to come along to the zoo. We were also meeting our precious Pratt, Clint and Hannah there. As soon as we got there Tucker spied the "hahsies" so off we went for a carosel ride.











After lunch we went to ride the train and Madeline and Pratt sat together and shared chips. I don't think I have heard or seen many things more precious than Pratt reaching for Madeline and saying her name so that he could sit by her.








Tucker wanted to ride with his best friend.


I think this is one of my most favorite pictures ever. Sweet Pratt smiling for the camera and my two surley children griping and wanting down.


Our wonderful Emily.


It was a wonderful day. Happy Labor Day.