Friday, January 28, 2011

Don't Blink

I know I spend a lot of this blog lamenting the fact that my kids are growing up too fast. But seriously, this is getting ridiculous!
The story behind the veil - on Sunday morning we talked about Jesus' first miracle in Madi's Bible class. Since the setting was a wedding, we let the girls dress up in a veil and the boys wear a fancy tie.
Since that point, Madi's been a bit obsessed. Surprising, I know.
She's apparently also heard the song, "First comes Love, then comes Marriage. Then comes Baby in a Baby Carriage." Or baby in a stroller, one in a back carrier and one on the hip. :)
Paxton is, of course, also growing fast too fast. He's been working daily to perfect his climbing skills.
One day those skills helped him to break into the candy bowl and score a sucker. Nice...
He's also been growing some hair. Baby mohawk!
Since he's getting so big, we had to start giving him responsibilities around the house. Yes, this is child labor at it's best!
So once again, I'm posting a blog to remind myself not to blink. Because it seems like every time I do, these kiddos grow up!

Friday, January 21, 2011

My Mountain Goat

I've already put this video on facebook and emailed it to some family members, so probably everyone who reads this blog has already seen it. But I wanted to make sure it was documented in the blog as well.

One day, I heard the piano start playing. Paxton often walks up to the piano and bangs on the keys, so I figured that was what was going on. I finished doing the dishes and then walked in to the living room to find Paxton playing the piano... WITH HIS FEET. He was walking along the keys. Oh my. I pulled him down and then watched as he crawled back up to the top in less than 30 seconds. So, I did what any good mom would do. I yelled to Ted and told him to bring the video camera. You'll hear Paxton fussing at the start of the video. That's because he's angry that I kept ruining his fun by setting him back on the ground.

So, I've gone ahead and reserved a room at the local Emergency Room. I figure we're going to need it with this one.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

My Girl

Today, Madi and I had the opportunity to have some Girls Only time and go out for lunch and a movie. Even though we were just eating at Pizza Hut and going to a small, somewhat outdated movie theater to see a Disney princess movie, Madi felt the need to get all dressed up (including the matching sunglasses and stick on earrings, of course). Needless to say, I was not quite as dressed up for our outing. :)
We enjoyed our food and LOVED the movie (Tangled). But more than that, I cherished the time I got to spend with my girl. She's growing up so fast and is such a neat kid. I thank God for her and hope I never forget to make time in what seems to always be a busy schedule to appreciate her. Definitely my idea of a great Girls Day Out.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Snow, How We Love Thee

On Sunday afternoon, it started to snow and kept it up until early Monday morning. So, we had our first Snow Day of 2011! As you can see, it snowed so much it was up to our knees! Well, up to Paxton's knees at least.
Paxton loved the snow...so long as he could just stand in it and smile. When we tried to get him to walk in it, this is the look we got. "Are you kidding me?!"

Madigan, on the other hand, had no time to just stand and smile. This girl had some things to do!
First she had to dig her scooter out of the snow.
And then she had to move onto her Jeep. Maybe next time she'll remember to put the top on when the weatherman predicts snow!!
Plus, she had to model all of her cool snow clothes. Here she's showing off her new boots from Pa and Gee Gee. They sure came in handy for our snow adventures!
Later that day, we got out and made a snowman. Ted took care of Darth Vader and the Transformer snowmen.
While Madi and I worked on her snow girl, "Hannah". She picked out the matching scarf, hat and sunglasses and declared that Hannah was "stylin'!"
We also did a little sledding. Of course, since we live in Arkansas and get snow maybe once a year, we don't actually have sleds. So out came the laundry basket and bungee cord!
I know I'm going to get in trouble from the grandparents for this video, but it makes me laugh. Here's Paxton sledding (and falling and getting back up again)!

Just to prove that he wasn't traumatized by the fall, this was taken just after the first video (as evidenced by the snow still caked to the left side of his body). Hear the laughter? He LOVED it!

Madi, my very cautious kid, was not too sure about going sledding. And seeing Paxton fall out hadn't helped. But finally, she gave it a try!

She actually liked it better riding with her brother. Paxton was a little less sure about that. :)
And I'll leave you with this. Paxton was again just standing, enjoying the snow so I took a picture. When I uploaded it to the computer though, I started cracking up. For some reason, it looks to me like he's peeing in the snow. I'm counting on some of you (Pa, Lexie, Uncle Matt, etc) to agree with me.
Happy Snow Day! May we meet again soon!

Saturday, January 08, 2011

The Finale

Our final Christmas (#4) was celebrated with my brother's family and my parents at our house the week after Christmas. Unfortunately, Ted and I got sick while they were here, so most of our time was spent on the couch, covered in blankets, with a glazed over expression. Fortunately no one took pictures of that. But Mom did take some pictures of the others that I stole to document the time!

Of course, there were more presents to be opened. That made one little girl very happy.
Matt modeling his super cool new hat
The kiddos with their new toys
The 4 cousins
The girls getting ready for their sleepover
Paxton wanted in on the pajama fun too!
The next day, everyone got dressed in similar colored clothes (even Matt this time!) and we took some pictures of the whole family. Aren't these girls beautiful?
The 4 kiddos
Madigan insisted on bringing her baby to the pictures and was a little upset that the baby doll couldn't be the 11th person in our family picture. So Gee Gee took a special one of the two of them.

The whole crew
We attempted one of the grandparents and grandkids, but, as you can see, Paxton had had enough!
We were so glad everyone could come to our house, even if it was only for one day. Hopefully next time it works out to get together, we won't be sick and can be a bit more sociable! We love you all!