POLL

On Thursdays we pick up fruits & veggies that we have purchased as a 'share' from a local CSA/farm. So, we are share holders of the farm. The annual gathering is this Sunday and there will be Farm tours, food, mingling and swimming. The girls are 5.5 mos old now (4 mos adjusted age). I've already arranged for a babysitter to watch them... but I'm still not sure. Should we take them with us? They really are not old enough to enjoy it but... they are our family and it would be a good time for some family pics...

I don't know. I'm still torn. I think that Jason and I can keep a better eye on Jackson and Abygail and also enjoy the day a bit more if it was just the 4 of us...

What do you think? Should we take the girls or not???

Facebook to Blog a Tribute to Madelyn

OK, so I've been Facebooking... last night I posted part of this on Facebook and I now think it deserves a blog post. It was a perfect moment that need not be forgotten.

From FB:

Amber is enjoying the slow steady drumming of the rain that has cocooned her neighborhood in silence. The song Rocking With The Rhythm Of The Rain by The Judds makes her smile as she rocks her own baby to the rhythm of the rain.

A continuation from last night and today's thoughts:

The cocoon is so thick it cannot be penetrated by distant car horns or nearby flying jets. The refreshing smell of renewal wafts in the window and mixes with the scent that can only be called Sweet Baby Pie. My own worries and cares are soothed and washed away along with the grime and dirt on the Earth's concrete blanket.
A perfect ending to a not so perfect day.

Who was that baby? Madelyn. I was rocking and feeding her just before putting her down for the night with the final rays of light from a long exhausting day.

So here's to you Madelyn, thanks for a wonderful moment!

Way Too Much...

Jackson's Blue-Blueberry Birthday pancakes.

to post because so much time has gone by.

THE GIRLS:
The girls had their 4 month check ups a few weeks ago. Caitlyn is 12 lbs 1 oz and Madelyn is staying 1 pound ahead at 13 lbs 0 oz. Isn't it funny how they have stayed 1 lb apart since a month or so before they were born?!


They are getting strong too. Both of them roll from tummy to back and they both push up like pros. They have discovered their hands and it's fun to watch them stare at them and try to figure out how to move them or untangle them from each other. I've noticed Madelyn try to reach for or grasp for things. They also both suck their fists (mostly Madelyn, she would prefer it to a pacifier but hasn't abandoned the paci all together yet). They push with their feet and move in circles if they are upset or just annoyed that no one is paying attention to them.

Caitlyn recently got to 'test' a swing from Fisher Price. We had it for 2 weeks and they both enjoyed it. We also enjoyed that it worked (Jackson has broken the big one) and that it was so portable.

"Someone" got to the cake before the party started!

JACKSON:

Is 2!!!! He is so charming at times and others... well, he's in the terrible 2 period and you can tell. We had some friends over to celebrate his birthday. We had hotdogs and a fire (both are his favorites). It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed having people over to celebrate this fun day for him.


He talks like a pro! He had his 2 yr check up at the beginning of the week. Took his shot like a big boy and the Dr seemed very impressed by his speaking abilities. Apparently he should be saying 2 word phrases. Ya, he has 2 sentence conversations! LOL. Abygail was the same and we really enjoy that we can communicate with them both so well.


He's a total boy too! He loves bringing worms and rocks in the house and scaring or chasing Abygail with the worms. What a turkey!

ABYGAIL:
Has learned the advantages of deal making. I wanted to write a post titled "Let's Make A Deal" and talk about her deal making skills but as you can tell, I didn't. She was in the bath a while ago and it was time to get out, she didn't like the towel I had for her so she refused to use it. I told her that was the only towel we had for her and that she could use that towel or no towel. Well, she said, "Make a deal Mommy, make a deal!" to which I replied, "there is no deal, this is the only one we have for you". She insisted several more times for me to make a deal so I said, "OK here's the deal, you can either use this towel or no towel, which do you choose?" She chose the towel immediately. I guess as long as the 'options' are in a deal format she's ready to continue forward. Silly.

She loves dancing and singing (as does Jackson).

Here's the best part (and this is not an announcement, it's just an update), She has been in underpants for 2 days with no accidents. YEA, YEA, YEA!!!

JASON:
Has been working on the backyard and that is for another post. It's amazing how different it looks from when we moved in and even from last summer.

What's going on?

Our life around here is falling into a routine. Last week we had our first outing to the Zoo. Abygail and Jackson did so well at listening and obeying while we were there and they didn't argue very much at all when I said it was time to go. That was a big relief, I hope this continues because it means we can get out more. We didn't stay long...I forgot the formula for the girlies so we had to come home early. I even had it ready but it didn't quite make it to the bag :( .

We've also gone on 3 walks just me and the 4 kiddie-kins. It's funny seeing a baby and two kids in our double stroller and me pushing it along with another baby in the front carrier. People always give me looks of amazement or sympathy LOL.

I feel like I have so many things I'm excited about right now but I need to slow down and pace myself. I've been working on the 'other' blog again and I hope I can stay up with that because I really think it's a usefull resource for myself and others in the area. I've also been winning a LOT of stuff lately. In the past month I've won:
4 Sun-chaser Kits with sunscreen and other things worth $20
1 pair of Bolle Sunglasses worth $109
$100 check from Hershey's
3 $20 visa cards from Coke
1 $25 Amex card and a reusable shopping bag from a blog giveaway
4 $4 coupons for Pace salsa
A month supply of Dole Fruit Gels
2 coupons for a chocolate candy bars
$50 gift cert. for food and flowers from 1800 flowers
2 Rascal Flatts song downloads
$10 from Century 21

I know Right!!! Yes, I've been staying up past my bedtime for all this. The Visa, Amex, checks and cash cards are very usefull and so are the food coupons and winnings. Sunglasses are always nice and so is sunscreen. So that's another thing I am spending time on.

Another thing is couponing. Last week I was able to get 40+ packages of diapers for not just cheap but FREE. How? I had built up store credit from other FREE deals that didn't cost me a penny but gave me store credit (I used a coupon to get it free, no tax even. Then they gave me store credit just for 'buying' it). Yet another thing I'm spending time on.

Book club is coming round again and luckily this time I've already read the book. My sisters have gotten me onto Facebook which in reality is NOT a good thing for a mom that already has too much on her plate but it's nice to keep in touch with them and so that's something else I'm spending time on.

My kids are getting so big and developing so fast...I'm glad I'm able to stay home with them.


So what am I NOT spending time on? Cleaning my house! O, I'm so ashamed ... I should get to that RIGHT NOW!

Just Pictures

3 Year Old in Pictures

Good Morning! My Daddy made me pink pancakes, pink syrup and pink milk for breakfast. A perfect way to start my pink birthday day!After breakfast my Daddy went to school and I got dressed and waited for him to come home. When he got home he took me out to Famous Dave's BBQ where I got a free meal. After that we went to Target and picked up some pink shirts for me and him and a red and white shirt for Jackson (no pink shirts in the boys area).

After Target my Daddy took me to see my first movie at a REAL movie theatre. We saw Bolt and it was so much fun!

When the movie was over we went home and I fell asleep in the car. I took a short nap and then my whole family went to Chuck E. Cheese's to meet up with our friends. It was my first time and I LOVED IT. Mommy and Daddy say we can go back once I am potty trained, but not before then.
At Chuck E. Cheese's we played lots of games and ate cup cakes that Boss made for me. I like her A LOT!
When we got home I got to open my presents. My grandma sent me lots of jewelry. I also got a Tinkerbell towel, 2 dresses, 101 Dalmatians movie and a back pack full of school stuff. I've already colored in my drawing notebook, wrote a letter to daddy in my writing notebook, used my colored pencils, ate all my chapstick and my peanut butter cups and played with my sticker book and my easter stickers, and last but not least my mommy and daddy say they will let me use my scissors on an art project. I'm such a lucky girl!On Friday I had all my friends over to play and my Mommy made us pizza. Westin's mommy made this perfect princess cake for me. I licked all the frosting off the baby doll and it was yummy!I liked the cup cakes too!See my Daddy wore pink too! I helped him pick out this shirt. I blew the candles out all by myself! I tried to stick the whole piece in my mouth but it was a little too big.After cake I had a cup cake.

I hope everyone had fun and didn't leave hungry. I'm so glad my friends came over for my special pink day.

In Other News...

Last week Abygail and Jackson got into a big container of baby lotion and rubbed it all over their bodies and the floor, it was a mess! I told her to go wash her hands and I came in the bathroom to find her doing this. She said, "I'm taking a bath and cleaning up mommy!" I had to hold my composure because I wanted to laugh so bad but I didn't want to encourage it.

Abygail is about to turn 3. I finally started planning her party, of course she's been planning and talking about it since her last birthday. We'll have all her friends over again and I haven't gone much further than that yet. We'll probably do pizza again and the hand print painting. This time I'm going to go to Big Lots and buy a cheap canvas to do it on so that it will look better and hangs on the wall better. She still looks at the one from last year and tells about how her friends painted it on her birthday, she's got a good memory. We'll probably also employ the Wii for some fun little kid games. If the weather is nice we'll get the bubble machine going outside and just let everyone play. She's already squashed my desire to make her special angel cakeby telling me that she want's a pink cake with pink frosting. There's no getting around that one. I made her a picture with her name on it and a birthday cake, and balloons and stuff, the cake was drawn with an orange crayon and she went balistic! Yup, there will be a pink cake with pink frosting for sure.

Her party is NOT going to be ON her birthday this year so we have some plans for that day too. After signing up for a ton of birthday clubs and stuff (see my post on that HERE) I've planned the day for her: BBQ lunch at Famous Daves OR Hamburger at Red Robin, Ice cream at Baskin Robins OR Friendly's, and Bowling with family and a few friends OR Movie with a parent.

She's getting to be such a big girl too, with the exception of her mortal enemy - the potty. She says the funniest things. Apparently she has seen and remembers how boys use the bathroom. This is what she was telling me the other day, "Mommy look! I'm making my pagina squirt!" (that's really spelled with a V not a P but she said it with a P) Ya, that made me laugh.

This little boy gets bigger every day. He frequently asks to sit on the potty, not that he does anything but, he knows he can sit there and drink a whole juice box so he likes to do that. In this picture it was like 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning and Jason was in the bathroom taking a shower and trying to get out of the house and off to school. Jackson didn't want to be locked out of the bathroom so he stood outside and cried. All the sudden he was quiet...I found him like this in the hall just outside the bathroom door.

Jason has been SO VERY BUSY with school lately. He was supposed to go on a research trip to Puerto Rico at the begining of April but it was post-poned. He has his qualifying exams on Tuesday (equivalent to oral bar exams). He's been gone a lot and at least 2 days a week he's gone until well after midnight. I'm so exhausted on those days, we are ALL ready for these to be behind him. Cross your fingers he passes!

The weather has warmed up so Jason has been riding his bike a few times a week again. Also the kids have been playing in the backyard now that it's warmer. While I was running some errands today Jason took all 4 of the kids for a walk. He's certainly super Dad, I haven't even been able to get out of the house with all 4 yet, not for lack of trying or planning. When I got home and saw that everyone was gone and the stroller was gone I walked outside to search for them. I didn't have to search long, I could hear him crying, I mean, coming up the road. Jackson was sitting up on top of the stroller facing him, the girls where in the seats and Abygail was riding on the platform that covers the wheel up front (see stroller HERE, this might help with your visual). The stroller was loaded up with half the house, it made me laugh :)