To Keep or Not to Keep

Madi's not even in "real" school yet and I already feel overwhelmed with all her projects everywhere. The piles seem to be never ending. She's always wanting to draw, color, or write something and my sentimental side has an extremely hard time throwing away such masterpieces!

What do parents do when they've got 3 or 4 kids bringing home paperwork, projects, reports, 100%'s and A+ work all the time?!? I keep telling Spencer how I've got to find a really good system to keep things very, VERY organized or I will seriously loose my mind.

For now, I have an "Art Project Wall" to hang some of Madi's monthly, holiday crafts. It was an easy fix for a bare wall. Her bedroom door is also covered. But once it's time to start removing some of the projects, what do I do with them? Throw it all away?? Keep only my very favorites? Start a school file for Madi that one day she can pack up and store in her own home? That was my thought, but even just one favorite project a month would add up to a pretty huge file!

That's a marshmallow igloo (for "I" week) sitting on top of her kitchen. Loved that idea Krista! Haven't brought myself to throw it away yet.

Most recently Madi's been starting to write a ton of words. The other afternoon I was super tired and really just wanted to take a nap, but Madi wouldn't leave me alone. So, being the good mother I am, I gave her a task to keep her occupied while I snoozed. :) I gave her a notebook and told her to write as many words as she could and when I woke up I would circle each correct word and reward each circle with a conversation heart. Madi was all over this assignment. She did pretty good too!

I made her use each word in a sentence to make sure she knew the words and their meaning (BAK is circled because she told me it was "back" and used it correctly in a sentence). After this assignment, Madi's been writing more and more. It's super exciting for me to see her sounding out words and not needing help with labeling her family portraits. But after days of collecting all these papers, I didn't know what to do with them. I decided if I took some pictures of my favorites I wouldn't have such a hard time getting rid of them. So that's what I did this weekend-took some snapshots and then tossed it all. Made me sad, but now I've got it on here and this will be with me forever!

Madi likes to do lots of family portraits, usually with the sun and a flower.

Love how we're all holding hands here.

And I'm loving my hair in this one! :)

Madi also likes writing letters. She obviously got a little bit of help with the spelling on this one.

Elle and a whole lot of pictures

Crusty nose, dirty face, messy hair, mismatched clothes, and a little busy body (which equal blurred photos)- I've got a hundred reasons why I don't take (or rather post) as many pictures of Elle these days. The cold weather created a little red rash/dry skin above her lip. With a couple weeks of runny noses, constant wiping, and the wonderful freezing temps- I just hope it isn't a permanent scar or something. It makes Elle look likes she's got a miserable cold- I guess just another reason I don't take more pictures. But then after a comment from Aunt Joci, mentioning how she barely recognized Elle in a picture, I felt guilty- like I don't document Elle as I should. So this post is partly for you Joc! :)

Elle turned 19 months last week, so here's some pics from her 18th month to document my silly, crazy little girl. Ya, they might not be all in focus, and some might be a little blurry, but I think they're hilarious. And they're my favorite type of pictures- the "in the moment ones"- all taken after walking into the room, laughing at what she's doing, then running to get my camera. Or some simply taken in a moment of love and adoration for her cuteness and charm. They're all Elle through and through!!

Not only does Elle love having a baby in the house, but she loves all the baby toys around!

After watching Beauty and the Beast, I walked into the room to see Elle attempting to ride "Philipe"!

What I usually get as a picture of Elle- her dodging the camera. This was while I was trying to get a group photo with 4 other girls all in tutus. Oh, and this was also on a day when Elle refused to let me get her dressed.

Just loved walking into the room and seeing her in this apron.

During a fun painting project with my girls. Elle actually stayed interested for the entire project- a miracle!

I asked Elle to help me empty the silverware. I turn around and found an even better helper!

I've been contemplating whether or not to cut Elle's hair- I'm not a big fan of it when it's down, but I just love that I can braid it!

While trying to capture her cute hair, Elle turned to flash me a smile!! She loves drawing on the white board!

And she loves wearing all the necklaces that she can get her hands on.

So much in fact that after taking all the above pics, she walked over to the mirror to admire herself.

And obviously loved what she saw!!

And a couple of other things to document:

1) She'll now throw her binky back into her bed after naps and when she gets up in the morning. Finally! I'd been working on no binky outside of the crib for awhile. Elle wouldn't want to give it up in the morning, so I'd usually just wait until breakfast. Once she'd take it out to eat, I'd hide it in the silverware drawer. But, if she hears the word binky, or she sees a picture with a binky in her mouth, she'll begin the crying and whining for one. She sat on my lap as I was looking through pictures from the past month. She about lost it when she saw these ones:

2) She finally says, "sorry" after her time-outs. It was usually just a big hug and kiss, but now she can very clearly say "sorry" along with one or two words to apologize for what she did- like: "Sorry. . . hit Madi" or "Sorry. . . bite. . . hurt"

3) She said "thank you" for the first time today. I've been working on this one for a long time and for some reason, either cause she's stubborn or just cause she couldn't, she'd never say it. Then tonight during dinner, as clear as day, Elle says, "Thank you Mom." I had to check with Madi to make sure I wasn't just hearing things. I tried to get Elle to say it again, just to be sure, but she refused. What a stubborn little girl!

4) Elle loves Dora (and has for quite awhile)- a little too much if you ask me. Madi didn't get into Dora/ Diego until she turned 3, but that was right around when Elle was learning to talk. It's pretty sad when your kid's first words are "map" and "backpack". While Madi's already starting to faze out of it, Elle's still going strong. She can tell you all the characters by name and answers right along with all their questions. Elle's first stop on our library trips is the "Dora section". And in the mornings she says, "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle" to let me know she wants to watch a Dora episode. Aside from allowing one episode a day, Spencer and I do nothing to encourage this obsession. I'm sure it will fade with time.

Man I love this little girl!!!

3 Girls

For the past month I've been watching Samantha Musgrave (who's now 5 months old) in the mornings (from 8:30- noon). When Stacie and I first talked about our arrangement I was a little unsure- I truthfully doubted my ability to take care of three girls, 3 and under. I thought for sure it'd be too much and I'd be overwhelmed. But we also first talked about it at a time when Madi was going through a particularly difficult stage (one that thankfully she's pretty much grown out of). But just after a week with Samantha I knew it was something I could do. She's adorable, the girls love her, and I actually like that it's keeping me fresh with all the baby stuff (so it won't be so incredibly foreign to me by the time I have a third:).

Elle watches out the window every morning for Samantha ("Manth" as Elle calls her) to arrive. Having a real baby around has been so much fun for Elle. I have to watch her closely though- she has a tendancy to invade the personal space. see below. Samantha's got the "Help, don't leave me alone with this crazy girl!" look.

Madi on the other hand just wants to help. She's not too overwhelming and does a great job keeping Samantha happy.

Feels like Spring

We've had some gorgeous days this week- yesterday was 75 degrees! Madi keeps asking if it's finally spring. We hit up the parks, had some picnics, and wore flip flops, t-shirts and capris! It was just what I needed to get me through the rest of the winter! Now if only the darn wind would go away, we could enjoy the 54 degrees it's going to be today.

Our park date yesterday: Brooklyn, Elle, Madi, Kate, and Dean

My Madi

Madi gave the scripture in Primary on Sunday. Of course Spencer insisted that it be memorized- which Madi did over the weekend. It was adorable. Spencer snuck into the back of primary to tape it.

Does this kind of thing loose its cuteness with the older they get or the more kids you have? I sure hope not. I always think about our other kids (well, Elle and the others we hopefully have one day), and wonder if these little things, like giving a talk or scripture in primary, will be as big of deal as they were the first time around.

While on the subject of Madi and things that are exciting, I should note that Madi earned her final m&m for her jar on the last Saturday in January. That afternoon I took her to Toys R Us to pick out her prize. I told her she could chose anything she wanted. I know, that could've been a dangerous thing to tell a 3 year old, but I already knew what she wanted and it cost $12, so I wasn't too worried. The best part about the outing was listening to Madi as we walked up and down each aisle, "Ohhhh mom, everything is just so beautiful! This is going to be such a difficult decision!"

But just as I knew she would, she choose a Belle Barbie Doll (she got one for her friend's birthday party awhile back and has been wanting one ever since).

Life as been so much easier with Madi lately. She no longer has daily temper trantrums and she's currently obsessed with being the first at everything we do at home. It's great- every morning she's the first one dressed, bed made, pj's folded and put away, hair fixed, and ready to go. And she requires very little help with any of it which is another plus. She also wants to help me with everything- bringing stuff up and down the stairs, setting the table, clearing the table, etc! Madi especially loves the praise she gets from getting all her jobs done. She's funny though- a simple "great job Madi" is not enough. She'll correct me and say, "No mom, why don't you say excellent job Madi." So now I try to stick with excellent and fabulous and amazing- great just isn't good enough!

It's so nice to have my obedient daughter back who loves giving me compliments and is always wanting to please Spencer and I. Life just wouldn't be complete without my Madi Moo!

The day after Valentine's Day

You would have thought it was Christmas morning with how excited Madi was yesterday. Actually the entire weekend was a big countdown till V-day. The excitement was contagious though. Knowing that Madi was super excited only made me want to make it an extra special day. I honestly wasn't planning on doing anything for Valentine's Day, since our preschool party was planned for today. But I sure tried my hardest to have some fun. I attempted heart shaped pancakes for breakfast (turned out more like odd shaped circles), crafted valentines during "school time", made heart shaped peanut butter/banana sandwiches for lunch, did heart sorting and graphing during quiet time, let Elle and Madi watch Dora/Diego and Max & Ruby Valentine specials with popcorn in the evening, and daddy brought home a special dessert after work! The girls were in heaven! I know I said this at Christmas time, but Madi really is at such a fun age for celebrating holidays. Everything is so special and exciting to her and she'll make a huge deal out of something so little. I love it!

Our little preschool party was this morning. Madi again woke up ecstatic, "Mom, Mom- today's our PRESCHOOL PARTY!!!!" All the girls had a blast- decorating mailboxes, passing out valentines, eating lunch together, frosting and decorating sugar cookies. We even squeezed in some singing, reading, and conversation heart graphing.

Poor Elle, she never makes it into any pictures these days (she's not always posing like Madi is- Elle actually usually avoids the camera). I meant to get one of her and Abby at the party but it just never happened. But I did get one of Elle licking the frosting off her "cook cook". Not the greatest picture, but at least I have some documentation from the day after Valentine's Day!

Oh, and one more exciting thing to note- it got up 64 degrees on Valentine's Day! Woot Woot! I can feel spring just around the corner!

Catching up- last week

My daily journal writing goal isn't going as well as planned. The days are slipping by and I'm already forgetting what in the heck I did. I've been spending a lot of time getting a stake youth choir organized for Youth Conference at the end of June. We'll be singing in the Kirtland Temple and I was put in charge of organizing the program- including choosing the music, inviting selected youth, scheduling practices, and conducting the choir. I had to ask for a little bit of help on the last one. I do love to sing, but I don't read music and have not a clue how to conduct a choir! Should be fun! :)

Other things from last week. . .

Last weekend we had our first house guest since moving back into our townhouse. Adam Kelly flew in on Saturday and left early Monday morning. He was interviewing at a fire department in Virginia Beach. Oh how we would love to have him and Lora move out here! It was fun having him here- the girls absolutely adore Adam.

I also had my last photography class Saturday morning. Sadly, I left feeling less than satisfied. I didn't feel like I learned the type of things I was hoping to learn. And I don't feel like it helped my pictures improve at all.

Last Monday I ordered my blog book for 2009. I had a 20% coupon too (coupon code NEWBLURB for those of you in the process of making one) and got $30 off my book! I've gotta get caught up on the rest of my books- I'm now currently working on Elle's 1st year book. My goal is to have it finished before she turns 2. These books are super tedious and take me forever to finish!

Last Tuesday I taught preschool- just had Madi and Kate. Nothing puts Madi in a better mood than school- I love how excited she gets about it. Then right before nap time, Elle fell down our entire flight of stairs. It probably took a half hour for my heart to stop pounding. But aside from a bruise on her forehead, she had no other injuries. Incredible. I really felt blessed- especially since Spencer had taken the car that morning. Our stairs are super scary and she could have cracked her head open, needed stiches, or worse. Elle and I spent a lot of the afternoon snuggling (mostly for my sake).

This was taken on a different day, but after Elle's incident, all "playing" on the stairs has been banned!

Last Wednesday I took the girls to the Rio for "Shake your Sillies Out" music time. Of course Elle stayed glued to me, but Madi had a great time dancing in the front, making new friends, playing with the parachute, and learning new songs. I love how brave she's gotten.

Last Thursday I taught preschool again- had Kate, Madi, and Tess. They are such adorable little friends. I always have such a good time teaching this little group.

Last Friday I toured the preschool I think we'll be enrolling Madi in for the fall and observed for a little bit. Even though it'll only be 3 half days a week, it made me a little sad thinking about Madi leaving the house, growing up, and going off to school. In just a year and a half she'll be in full day kindergarten! It really does fly by and it hit me hard that I won't be her main teacher after this year.