Just like that!

After a weekend of hot weather (including three 90+ degree days) followed by a full day of rain, I woke up this morning to a fully bloomed forest! I love it!! Words can't express how much I love the East coast in the spring time. Even in the summer with all it's humidity, it's still hard not to love the green everywhere! I remember flying into Reagan International when Madi was 5 weeks old-my first time in DC! As we drove down the George Washington Parkway along the Potomac, passing the neatly groomed greenbelt and the lush green trees lining the river bank, the monuments and the Capitol in the distance across the river, then disappearing into the lush forest as we pass Georgetown on the right, I couldn't help but fall in love with DC!! While it was hot, humid, and sticky, I turned to Spencer and kept saying over and over how much I loved it! Now almost 2 years later I still feel the same. This is what makes those freezing cold winter months all worth it!

This morning Madi and I ventured out for a walk around the neighborhood. I didn't bring my camera along (silly me), so after being completely taken away by our new green forest, I made Madi go out with me again after her nap! I think she was just as excited as me to get out and explore! 

Yes, and all pictures in this post were taken with my new camera! LOVE it!

Snow Cones

With the hot weather we had at the first of the week, Melissa busted out her snow come machine. Madi wasn't very interested in eating any, but she sure was interested in feeding hers to Lexi! So after Lexi was finished with her snow cone, she came running towards Madi for some more! Madi's response was quite comical. . . . 

"Want some Lexi?"

"Here ya go."

"Mmmmm...."

"Good job Lexi. Want some more?"

Madi coached Lexi through eating the rest of her snow cone. It was hilarious! She's such a little mom!

22 Months

Madi's been my little sidekick for a whole 22 months now. I love being with her and I love that she enjoys my company just as much. However, I'm now starting to wonder if I did something wrong with not frequently leaving Madi with babysitters and not spending more time with other kids. The majority of her awake life (I'm thinking 97% of it) has been spent with ME by her side! So it's no wonder that she still has such separation issues! While I obviously enjoy her company and can't imagine life without her, I'm now loosing a little bit of patience with her clinginess. The entire month of April we've had nursery issues. I mention nursery and she goes ballistic! I can't do it anymore though. I can't sit in nursery and help her through it. I'm officially done! May marks a new, tougher Anie! I plan on letting her cry it out! We're down to 2 1/2 months until the baby comes and I NEED my freedom! Any suggestions on the nursery subject would be appreciated!  

Along with being clingy, Madi has jealousy issues. She likes that SHE is my life and struggles when I spend time with other kids. I'm starting to get nervous about how she's going to respond to the baby's arrival. While she loves giving my belly kisses and is so nurturing to her own baby doll, I still worry that it's going to be a tough transition. The clinginess has seemed to get worse with my growing belly. 

Luckily we were able to put an end to the hitting and aggressive behavior from last month. It took lots of time outs and major follow through, but we were extremely happy to see positive results so quickly. 

Madilyn's just such a big girl now! I'm always curious as to what is going on in that head of hers. She takes things quite seriously and always seems to be thinking about something important. She loves instructions and will usually do anything you ask her to do (aside from eating that is). 

She's becoming super independent and now constantly insists on doing things "all by myself"(a very common phrase around here these days)! Actually just yesterday she got herself dressed. I couldn't believe it! I handed her some shorts and told her to put them on and she DID! She was laying down as she put her legs into the holes and then she stood up and pulled them up! I was bursting with excitement! She could tell I was proud which made her extra happy. So then she proceeded to put her shirt on too (just had to put her arms into the holes though and then I buttoned it in the back). After picking out some sandals and slipping them onto her feet I was ecstatic! My excitement left her grinning from ear to ear so I'm hoping maybe my reaction left her encouraged to do it again!

Madi showing off her new "Miss Independent" jammies!

Getting dressed by herself would really eliminate alot of the stress from our morning routine. Madi's VERY particular with what she wears. She insists on wearing specific colors, certain types of pants, and shirts with her favorite things on them. The past month or two, her favorite two shirts are her "mushroom shirt" which she requests by calling it just that. As well as her "BEES" shirt! She's never liked wearing tights and therefore usually detests wearing any type of pant that's tight on her tummy or legs.  While it's frustrating having a child that protests against things I try putting on her, it is nice that she picks out her own outfits, complete down to the socks and shoes!

Madilyn now joins Spencer and I at the kitchen table for meals. This started when the Calhouns came to visit. Madi wanted to eat with her cousins and she actually ate a WHOLE lot better. Unfortunately she went back to her finicky eating ways after they left. While many times she still prefers eating in her highchair, it is fun the times we're all sitting together at the table!

This month two of my favorite things she says are:

* "Me carry you?" if she wants to be carried instead of walking.  She picked it up from me asking her, "Do you want me to carry you?" 

* When taking care of her baby, Madi always says the cutest things- she's very motherly! I just love listening to her interact with her baby.  After pretending to feed baby, Madi will look up with a big smile and say, "She likes it!"

One last random thing- while Madi's never been a drooler, I have to laugh at the number of pictures I have of Madi chomping on her fingers. It'll be nice once all those big ones finally come through. Even though she never complains, I'm sure it's pretty painful!

Here's to a fabulous 22 months spent with Madi! Only one more monthly update before her 2nd birthday in June! Good thing, cause these posts can be pretty exhausting!

Birthday Celebration!

Happy Birthday to ME!!! I turned 29 today! I can't believe this is the last year of my twenties! The other day while Spencer was lamenting about turning 30 in just 6 months, he turns to me and says, "Anie, you're so lucky, you have your whole life ahead of you!" Spencer's wise comments always seem to make so much sense and make everything all better! :)

As for birthday celebrations, they started off early with hitting up a yard sale at 8am. This is one yard sale I've been excited about since I went for my first time last year. I am very happy about my purchases too!

Purchase #1: Baby's new car seat

While I was very hesitant to purchase a car seat at a yard sale, it was extremely difficult to pass up this one:

Pictured above is the exact infant carrier that I bought this morning for $30. When I got home I got online and googled it to see what they're going for. I found them on sale for $130! WOW- so I just saved $100! Happy Birthday to me!

Purchase #2: Madi's birthday present (that we plan on hiding and setting up on June 28th). It's a kitchen- brand new from Target, sold there for $100. I got it for $30! Along with the kitchen I got her a shopping cart for .25 and a whole bag of dishes and food (not all pictured- currently in the dishwasher) for $3. Total birthday gift: $33.25! Pretty sweet deal if you ask me!

Purchase #3: Calendar for the girls room. Tisha found this exact calendar at a sale in Pasadena for $25.  I've been looking for one ever since. While I don't think I could bring myself to pay $25 for it, I was very happy for it's $2 sticker price! SOLD!

Purchase #4: Maternity clothes 

Since it is my birthday, I was thrilled to find something for myself! I got a pair of capris, 2 shirts, and a maternity swim suit (never been worn) all for $20! 

Purchase #5: Books- $2

I'm always a sucker for books.

After a successful hour and a half at the yard sale, I came home to join Spencer and Madi for some present opening and brunch.

Madi made sure to wish me happy birthday all day long. I think Spencer did some training while I was at the yard sale, because several times throughout the day she'd randomly say, "Happy Birthday Mama." 

After presents, Spencer and Madi took naps and I headed outside to enjoy the beautiful weather- and answer many of my birthday phone calls (thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone)! With Madi taking a nice long 3 1/2 hour nap, Spencer and I had a quiet afternoon to kick back, relax, and watch a movie.

This evening we went out to dinner where Spencer surprised me with a birthday present to top all presents. I got a new CAMERA!!! I can't begin to express my excitement after opening the box. I've been wanting a new camera for awhile now, but I truthfully didn't think I'd be getting one until after law school (it not being a necessity and all). Our old one is still hanging in there- held together by a rubber band, but hanging in there!

After dinner we came home and of course I had to whip out my camera and start learning. 

Im lucky that it came with free lessons! :) Thanks Melissa for helping Spencer out with the camera surprise!

Spencer topped the night off with my favorite birthday dessert- strawberry shortcake! Yummmm! 

What a fabulous birthday! Big thanks to Spencer for all the spoiling!  

Of course, I can't forget to also wish a very happy birthday to my sweet niece, Ani and sister-in-law, Lindsay who I share this special day with. Love you guys. Hope you had a fabulous day as well!

28 Weeks

I'm now in my seventh month and third trimester! My legs are still incredibly painful and extremely ugly! I think this is the main reason my second pregnancy hasn't been as enjoyable as the first. I limp in the mornings and hate pulling on my stockings when it's getting beautiful outside. Getting dressed is a chore. I never bought a pair of maternity pants and I'm hoping to get away with not having to. I've got several pairs of maternity capris and skirts so I should be ok since I think the warm weather is finally here to stay! 

While pregnant with Madi I loved my growing belly and loved everything about being pregnant. It's a bummer how these dang varicose veins have ruined it for me. And believe me- if you were to see me legs up close and personal, you'd feel really bad for me too. It cracks me up when I see the reaction of the few people I've shown my legs to. It's usually, "(BIG gasp), OH Anie, wow- I'm so sorry.... I didn't realize it was THAT bad!" Yep folks- it's bad! And for all of you who get to see me at the pool this summer, I apologize in advance for my scary legs. I just can't bring myself to give up my pool time because of them! And after going to the vascular surgeon this morning, I learned that there's nothing more that can be done. They basically told me what I already know: to wear my compression stockings, keep my feet elevated when possible, and don't gain too much weight. Oh, and then to have the baby, and come back 3 months after the baby's born. What a disappointment! While I figured that's what they were going to say, I was secretly hoping they'd whip out a laser gun and zap all my veins today! I've come to grips with it though and I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it!

Just Mommy and Madi

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day today. It was the first day this year that actually reminded me of last spring. Our day started early, with Madi awake at 6:15 and Spencer on his way to school by 6:45am. It was a quiet morning with just the two of us. After trying out my new preschool curriculum on Madi, complete with math, art, singing, and reading, we headed outside at 9:45am, just as the clouds were parting, making for a beautiful day. 

Last spring Madi and I went on walks every morning. Then on the way home we always stopped by my favorite spot.  Well, now that Madi's older, she rarely likes to sit in the stroller. If we're out for a walk, Madi insists on walking!  Today she surprised me by willingly jumping into the stroller and practically buckling herself up! With my work-out cut short this morning, I was very happy for the nice power walk.  Madi just sat back, taking it all in. The trees are finally getting their leaves back, the birds are busy building their nests, and squirrels were out gathering acorns! It was fun to witness it all. After a nice long walk, Madi and I stopped back by the house to pick up some snacks- I had not anticipated her lasting this long. Thinking it'd be fun to make a snack to feed the birds, I whipped out the popcorn popper. However, Madi and I must have both been pretty hungry ourselves because we sat up on the counter together and finished off all the popcorn in 5 minutes (sorry birdies)! I packed a couple of other snacks, topped off my water bottle, grabbed a beach towel, and we were off again! We spent the next half hour just hanging out in the grass together- like the good old days! It's times like these that I've very grateful for my mellow child that will just sit and hang out with me. We ate some snacks, blew bubbles, picked dandelions, and then had a leisurely stroll back home. Of course I had also brought along my sidewalk chalk, so we made sure to leave a note for daddy before heading back inside. Seriously the perfect morning! 

After a 3 hour nap, a trip to Target, and Barnes & Noble, the dark clouds rolled back in. Just as Madi and I pulled up to the house the rain drops started to fall. I let Madi out of her car seat, telling her to run into the house. All of a sudden a huge clap of thunder sounded and Madi flipped out!  The only reason I mention this is because it's the first time Madi has ever shown any reaction to thunder. From this point on, until going to bed, all Madi could talk about was the "funder". Every few minutes she'd ask some question like, "hear the funder?" or "where'd funder go?" or "funder go sleep?"  Spencer and I tried changing the subject, switching activities, etc. but our conversation always seemed to come back to the funder. I put Madi to bed tonight telling her that the thunder had gone to sleep and now she's going to go to sleep too. While she usually talks for awhile every night, I didn't hear a peep out of her tonight. Guess she took the thunder going to bed very seriously! 

Relaxing days!

I've been reminded that I need to update, now that's it been a whole week since my last post! Last week was quite a busy one and I truthfully haven't sat down to do any blogging since the Egg Roll last Monday! Ya, I know- crazy for me! So, here are some of the highlights from the last couple of days:

* Made several trips to the park!

* Busted out the maternity capris to enjoy the high 70 degree weather.

*Spent a LOT of time outside.

*Got a tan!

*Attended my friend's twins 1st birthday party!

*Started my blog books for 2008 and 2009 (yes, blurb is back up and slurping) 

*Temple session with Spencer

*Picnic at the airplane park

*And just last night I got to speak at a baptism for one of my young women. Her baptism was combined with 2 French sisters and I just have to comment on how interesting it was to give a talk, while pausing after every couple of sentences to have it translated into French. Something I've never experienced before! Luckily I had written my thoughts down for this talk!

I think it was the all beautiful, warm, sunny days we had last week, and all the afternoons spent outside, that left me feeling VERY behind for this week. I went to bed last night feeling stressed (don't ask me why), but luckily it resulted in a pretty productive Monday so far! It's only 2pm and I've already completed my entire checklist for the day: 

hour work-out 

3 loads of laundry (washed, dried, folded, AND put away) 

strip and remake beds 

grocery shopping 

master bathroom cleaned 

vacuum entire house 

call landlord to tell about leak in the attic 

school time with Madi 

After tutoring this afternoon, I think I'll crash early tonight!

We have another busy week ahead of us, but NO complaints here because it's my birthday week!! WOOT WOOT! Here at the Jenkins house that means it's all about ME this week!! :) Yep, Spencer always does a great job making sure I get all the spoiling I deserve! 

Lines, Lines, and MORE Lines!!

Madi and I went to the White House this morning (along with 3 of my good friends and 4 of Madi's buddies). I was definitely grateful for the opportunity to be there and glad that we went, but I can't say that my experience of the Easter Egg Roll was what I was expecting! The picture above portrays only a small fraction of the crowds that we got to deal with today. 

When I first learned about the Easter Egg Roll, I only heard AMAZING things- that it was loads of fun, there's lots of great activities, awesome entertainment, and you get tons of FREE stuff! I'm guessing things have changed a little because this was not my experience. First of all, the whole ticket process was different, making it much harder for locals to get tickets. Second, you're given a time slot- but I learned that this doesn't mean you'll be let in during that time. Third, there are lots of great activities available, but the lines to participate in them are longer than the time alloted for us to even be there.

Leaving the house at 9:15am, riding the Metro into the city, walking to the White House, RUNNING to get in line, and then waiting forever in line, left me tired and hungry by the time we even got through the gate.     

Once I saw this sign I was sure things would get better. However, we were only met with MORE LINES!! We were able to walk around, but if we wanted to participate in any of the activities we would have had to get back in line! That was the LAST thing Madi wanted to do. By this time it was almost 1pm and she was hungry and VERY tired! Now let me just reiterate that our time slot was from  11:30-1:30pm. So an HOUR of our scheduled time was spent outside the White House lawn, waiting in line! While Candis and Becky went off to get in the line to do the Egg Roll, Melissa, Lexi, Madi and I skipped out of the line thing, hung out in the grass and enjoyed the entertainment. 

Melissa and Lexi dancing to the music!

Just to prove that we were there.

Let us OUTTA here!!

It was short lived though; the next thing I know we hear an announcement that our group was scheduled to leave. Not wanting to get stuck behind a bunch of people, we packed up our restless kids and exited the lawn. Oh, but don't you worry- we WERE able to get our free commemorative wooden souvenir egg signed by the President and First lady! Ya, definitely made that whole thing worthwhile! :) 

In case you're interested, you can buy them online for $7! 

Easter Traditions

One of my favorite things about being married is getting to create our own family traditions. We usually take a little from my family and a little from Spencer's and mold it into what works for us. Last year Madilyn was only 9 months old and we hadn't really talked much about Easter and/or what we wanted our family traditions to be. So at the close of last Easter Sunday we layed in bed and planned out what we wanted to do from next year on. The meal was really important to Spencer and he wanted to have something special that we ONLY do for Easter. Spencer suggested lamb. For those of you that know me know that I am not very adventuresome when it comes to food. I like plain, ordinary meals and when it comes to eating meat I usually only prefer chicken. Eating things like deer, fish, lamb, etc. really disturb me. It's hard for me to get out of my head what we're eating and actually enjoy the meal. However, I agreed on eating lamb- not realizing how quickly a year would come and go. As it got closer to Easter, Spencer began talking about his meal, looking for good lamb recipes, and calling his parents to get some advice. He continued to remind me that I was going to partake of this meal and that I was NOT going to complain and that I was going to like it! So yesterday Spencer went out to bought a leg of lamb roast and all the fixings for the marinade. As much as I don't like trying new things, I LOVE having a husband that cooks. Not only does Spencer cook, but his food is usually better than I've ever had (no offense to our moms)! The final result- an incredible meal!!

I had to agree that it was VERY delicious. Now I have to remind you that even with agreeing to eat the meal it was still hard thinking that we were eating a little lamb. So, at our dinner table we simply referred to it as "meat".  Along with our "meat" we had french bread, oven roasted potatoes and carrots. Then topped it off with Easter candy and ice cream. Mmmmmm!

As for the other traditions associated with Easter, I think egg hunts are fun and it was nice doing it the Saturday before Easter. While we don't want the Easter bunny to be a part of the sacred holiday, Spencer always got an Easter basket while growing up, so we'll probably do some type of fun "spring" gift for our kids. Madi's gift this year was a drawing board- a white board on one side and a magnetic chalk board on the other. It also came with magnetic alphabet letters and numbers. Madi LOVED it! She had letter time before church and then LOTS of drawing time after her nap after church.  Along with her drawing board, Madi also got a "My little Pony" coloring book in her Easter basket and a few other small things for her purse. She was in heaven! We ended the day with reading the Easter story from the New Testament.

Then we get to top off the holiday tomorrow with spending our afternoon at the White House, participating in the Easter Egg Roll! Pretty cool tradition if you ask me! Hopefully this will be a tradition that we'll be able to carry on while we live here in DC. Now I'm just crossing my fingers for nice weather tomorrow!

CrA-Zy FUN with the Calhouns!

This past week we had the Calhoun's visiting from NC. Tisha, Adley, and Ani arrived on Monday and Curteis flew in Thursday evening. What a fun, crazy, action packed week we had!! 

They arrived Monday afternoon in time for dinner, a little bit of play time, and a FHE lesson on "Sharing" (ya, I was thinking ahead when I planned out this weeks lesson! Truthfully, I do actually think it helped with sharing issues throughout the week)! 

Tuesday we headed into the city to hit the museums. While we had hopes of getting to the Natural AND American History museums, we only had time for one- so to the Natural History Museum we went. Since museum pictures never seem to turn out on my old relic of a digital camera, I won't include any of my attempts to get a good picture of the all our fun. Instead here's a picture of us on the Metro, riding into the city. While it might not look like it, riding the train was definitely one of the highlights of the week for the kids! 

Wednesday we decided to stay close to home and make sure that the kids got their naps! We made a trip to the temple in the morning (you'd think we'd pulled up in front of Disneyland with how excited all three kids were to see the temple)!

After naps we dyed and decorated Easter eggs. 

Aren't they just the most attentive audience you've ever seen!

Tisha really got into the "dying" part of the eggs. My syringe helped give the eggs their tie-dyed look! 

The eggs turned out beautiful if I do say so myself. We made sure to make a bunch so the kids would have some to find in their egg hunt on Friday and lots to eat throughout the week. Unfortunately Tisha and I weren't thinking about the need for eggs to be refrigerated. Instead, they were left out, displayed neatly on the counter for over 24 hours before we realized our mistake. Sadly, all these cute eggs had to be tossed into the trash! 

Thursday we were blessed with gorgeous weather, which lucky enough was our ZOO day! The beautiful weather definitely compensated for all the crowds. 

Friday we had plans for the Smithsonians and Cherry Blossom Festival, but changed our minds after Tuesdays city trip-this week was Spring Break and let's just say we were done fighting the insane crowds!! Instead we headed to the Air and Space Museum in Virginia. Spencer, Madi and I  had been there in January, but Madi never seems to get sick of seeing airplanes! The kids definitely had a blast (see videos below)!

That evening we got our first real babysitter (someone other than family or close friends) so that Tish, Curt, Spencer, and I could go into the city for dinner. Not sure if it counts though since we put all the kids down in bed before we left. I can definitely say that it's much nicer riding the metro and walking around DC without kids! This was my first time doing it and we definitely had a fabulous night in the city!

This morning before the Calhouns had to leave, we had an egg hunt for the kids. I was sure Madi would love looking for her "green" eggs (each kid was given a different color to find), finding them, and putting them into her basket. Well, things went a little different than planned. After finding her first egg, pulling  it open, and seeing that candy came spilling out, Madi began inhaling candy as fast as she could. I ended up following her around to regulate her voracious consumption of jelly beans and m&m's. Hence, no pictures of the "hunt".

A few other highlights from the week include:

Bath time (of course)! 

Reading bedtime stories together. Madi's tent was a hit!

Meal time! The girls in their matching PJ's enjoying a yummy breakfast of Kix and Chex! 

Quiet time

And LOTS of play time!

Thanks Calhouns for the awesome week! We love you guys and can't wait to see you again soon!