Madi- Age 4

Weight: 35 1/4 lbs (54%)

Height: 39 1/8 in. (38%)

My random list of things about Madi- to document her personality at age 4:

* Madi's got amazing self control (which isn't a new thing- she's always been like this). Back in April when we flew out to CA, I packed some special treats for our airplane ride. They were so special though that Madi refused to eat them and still has them saved! She still rarely finishes desserts, and even tells me she'd rather have dessert later cause her tummy's too full! I'd like to say that her will power is incredible, but truthfully her stomach is just really small.

* Madi doesn't eat a lot of sweets, but when she does, she'll run to the bathroom and brush her teeth as soon as she's done!

*Madi loves hearing about people getting hurt or going to the hospital. On a regular basis (especially before bed) Madi requests Spencer or I to tell her a story.... "about a time you got hurt." Every single library trip results with at least one new book about a trip to the Emergency Room, the hospital, and/or the doctor's office. Sometimes when I fix her hair (or I should say, when I used to fix her hair- she rarely lets me do anything to her hair anymore) I'll let her watch sesamestreet.org. But Madi only wants to watch the videos about going to the doctor. It did help with her 4 year old check-up though. Madi knew exactly what to expect. She was super excited about going- in a nervous sort of way, but she did amazing! She was extremely brave, cried just for a sec when they gave her some shots- which she had to get four of (later Madi actually thought was pretty cool cause she's 4 now)!! For the eye examination Madi got a little freaked out when they showed her the smallest of the letters. She quickly looked away saying, "Oh, that's too small!" She finally passed on her right eye, but looking with her left eye Madi insisted that the letter was too small and she couldn't read it. I was referred to an optometrist, but don't think it's necessary. I'll keep an eye on it (haha- no pun intended!:)

Not the most exciting video, but my girls love it (cause it was taken at the doctor's office)

* There's no doubt in my mind that Madi's going to be an incredible student. She loves playing school, always wants me to give her "homework", and will sit for hours at a time drawing, coloring, doing workbooks, etc. I know I always loved those obedient students who worked really hard, listened attentively, and asked great questions. That's Madi all the way! The other day I complimented Madi on doing such a great job on all her workbook assignments. She looks up from what she's working on and says,"My teacher's gonna be so impressed at me!" (talking about the new pre-school teacher she'll have in the fall). Then she adds, "I'm a good worker huh!" Ya, she doesn't lack in the confidence area either.

* Along with being a great student, Madi recently finished set 1 of the Bob Books. It's been super exciting listening to her sounding out words and reading full sentences!

* Madi's been "almost 4" for quite some time now. I was particularly angry at Madi one afternoon (this was several months back) and I told her if she did it (whatever naughty thing she was doing) one more time she'd be going into timeout for 3 minutes cause she's 3 years old. Madi then replies, "You should make it 4." Awesome- what kid asks for longer time-outs!?

And just to note, the day Madi turned 4, she now tells me she needs 5 of everything cause she's almost 5. I really gotta put a stop to it- she's growing up way to fast for my liking!

* Madi loves making new friends- she makes a new friend on almost every park outing. I love how Madi's always interested in knowing how old they are (again, always obsessed with age).

* Madi's got such a good heart. Whenever she sees or hears of someone that's sick or just having a bad day, Madi always wants to draw them a picture. I guess she knows how much I love her pictures so she figures that they will cheer everybody up.

* Madi's a rule follower through and through, but for some reason she loves hearing about naughty kids who broke the rules (or watching kids get in trouble for breaking a rule). I think it's the knowing that she chose the right and someone else got in trouble that empowers her.

* She's obsessed with being modest. Madi will quietly point out immodest women and girls to me when we're out (thankfully she's good about doing it quietly- that took some training, she used to blurt it all out).

* Madi loves flowers and will stop to smell flowers everywhere we go (and surprisingly for me, I think it's absolutely adorable- it's helped me to slow down and enjoy the little things of life). She knows not to pick the planted ones but she's all over the wild flowers that grow in the yard. Up until just a couple weeks ago, Madi would pick a handful of flowers every day and tell me, "Happy Mother's Day!"

* Anytime Madi sees trash outside on the ground, she'll comment on how naughty it is. When possible she'll pick it up and bring it home to throw away. One morning she spotted a piece of trash that had been blown into our yard. Madi threw on her shoes and ran outside to retrieve it and dispose of it properly. She told me, "We need to keep our world really nice and clean."

* She called me "Mother" (and nothing else) for a solid month after getting home from CA in April.

* Her dress was inside out- "Mom, can you help me- it's inside outside."

Madi's Day

The countdown to 4 started the day after Madi turned 3 1/2. It's funny how kids are so obsessed with their age. The first thing Madi said when she got out of bed on the morning of her birthday was, "I've been waiting for this day!" (pause) "I'm almost 5 now- so now I can wear 5T!"

I was dying when I saw this picture that my mom took at my cousin's house while Spencer and I were in Kirtland. Madi justs looks SO grown up!

L-R: Madi, cousin Eleanor Day, Elle

Madi loves her new bunk bed and bedding! When we asked her if she liked her new bed, she told us, "I love it! It's so big and squishy and I can move all around on it!"

Madi's just like me when it comes to birthdays- crazy excited about them! All week long Madi was reminding us, "It's my birthday week!" But even though the birthday excitement started back on the day she got her bunk bed (our birthday present to her) and then continued when she got her bedding (a week later), there's nothing more exciting than the actual birthDAY! I haven't decided yet what ages we're going to do birthday parties- right now it's more of where we're at on her birthday. But one thing has stayed pretty consistent about Madi's birthday- she's spent every single one of them (if not the actual day, it was the week before or the week after) with Gram. So true to tradition, Madi got to hang out with Gram all day!

Gram waited in bed (on the bottom bunk) until Madi got up (top bunk) to take her picture and hear the first thing Madi said. When they came downstairs we did present opening (just a couple- from Gram, Papa, and Gram Rox) and then ate her requested birthday breakfast- waffles! After breakfast Madi became engrossed in her new magnetic princess paper dolls from Gram and Papa. So Gram stayed home with Madi and Elle to play while Samantha and I took Spencer to the Metro. I stopped off at the store on my way home to pick up some gel food coloring for Madi's cake which took a little longer than planned and when I got home Madi and Elle were ready for their next activity. I was taking care of Samantha (food, stories, nap) so I stayed home while mom took the girls on a nature walk. And what a great time they had!

After their walk they came home and created a collage of everywhere they went, what they saw, what they did, and what Madi said. Isn't my mom the greatest!

I was bummed to be missing out on all the fun, but I was glad that Madi was getting lots of special time with Gram. Madi had PB &J for her favorite lunch choice. Then Samantha went home, Elle went down for a nap, and the little girl I recently started tutoring twice a week came over. So Madi spent her quiet time with Gram. Near the end of my tutoring session Madi and Gram took off for the pool. With Elle sleeping, I stayed home to make the birthday cake Madi had requested- a rainbow cake. In the middle of my cake making I realized the food coloring I'd picked up that morning was missing the red. I also needed parchment paper. After 2 hours at the pool, Madi and Gram were ready to come home and I was needing to get to the store. By now I was feeling terrible that it was turning out to be such a crazy day for me- I just wanted to hang out with my Madi. I picked them up at the pool, let Madi ride on my lap and help me drive the one block home. I smothered her with kisses and hugs, and then took off for Safeway. I got home, finished the cake, helped mom with dinner (mac-n-cheese was Madi's request) and then we all ate together. Madi and Elle came with me to get Spencer from the Metro- I was loving any minute I got to spend with the birthday girl. We got home, Spencer ate a quick dinner, I did a quick house/ kitchen clean-up, and we were ready for dessert. This was seriously the highlight of my day. Madi had requested a rainbow cake and I found just the recipe. I was so very happy with how it turned out too. I'm not a cake lover, but it was delicious!! And so very beautiful! It made me happy to see Madi so happy about it!

Looks just like a normal round cake.

But then you cut into it and see all the colors of the rainbow!

Madi ate pretty good for a few minutes. Then she tells me, "I think I need a smaller piece."

I was trying to get a picture of the cake, but Madi's expression here is priceless. OD on rainbow cake!

Those in attendance at Madi's birthday celebration: Maggi & Mike (our sweet elderly neighbors that adore the girls), Gram, Spencer, Elle, and I

I don't doubt that it was a wonderful day for Madi. I'm so glad that my mom was here to help make Madi's birthday extra special. I just wish it hadn't been such a busy day for me. I made up for it the next day though when we spent the entire day together- doctor's appointment at 9am (which was the cutest thing ever), swim lessons at 11am, and onto North Carolina at 1pm.

Happy 4th Birthday my Madi Moo! We love you so very much!

A DC 4th

(Full disclosure: I stole this photo off the internet, but this really was our view! Breathtaking!!)

After moving away last summer, not knowing if we'd ever be back in DC, we made sure to live up the DC experience this year for the 4th of July. I'm sure there's other awesome firework shows all over the country, but in reality, there is no better place to celebrate the 4th than sitting on the lawn by the Marine Corps Memorial, looking out over the Potomac River at the Lincoln and Washington Monuments and the Capitol.

It was an awesome day filled with good food, great friends, and lots of fun! Adam Eshenroder, who was visiting for the weekend and the Sundberg family joined us for a BBQ at our place. On the menu was ribs, hot dogs, sweet corn-on-the-cob, a delicious salad, homemade root beer, and for dessert- homemade raspberry ice cream and a 6 layered red-white-and-blue patriotic cake! Only the best for America's birthday!

The kids each took a turn brewing up the root beer.

Thanks Stacy for joining me in the obligatory cake picture!

Notice how we're color coordinated with the cake- red, white, and blue!

My traditional 4th of July cake- but made a little differently this year.

After lunch all the kids took naps. Then we headed down to the Marine Corps Memorial around 4:45p. It was perfect timing- we got a great spot with tons of space!

The kids were great at keeping themselves busy until the fireworks show. . .

Elle and Weston cheesin' it up with rice cakes in hand!

Big thanks to Becky for bringing tons of activities for the kids! Why to be prepared Bec!

Madi absolutely loved making necklaces. She sat just like this for at least an hour.

Elle and Abby are the cutest little buddies. The best was during the fireworks when Abby went back to sit with her family and Elle yells, "Come back Abby!"

We loved having Adam with us for the weekend! Our girls absolutely adored him.

Happy Birthday America!!

Swim lessons

Madi started swim lessons last month. This was the little group of friends who Madi "attempted" to learn to swim with.

Notice how Madi's the only one in the bottom picture not having a good time splashing. She had a love/ hate relationship with swim lessons.

Madi loved being with her friends.

She loved that it was something new.

And she loved her new goggles.

Madi loved her new googles so much that after her first day of swim lessons she carried them everywhere- including to bed!

This is how I found Madi just 15 minutes after I tucked her into bed- sound asleep and wearing her googles!!

Madi might love her goggles, but she hates putting her face in the water. So no, the goggles never served their intended purpose.

Krista sure was an awesome teacher though. Madi loves "Sister Lundell" and already knowing her teacher really helped Madi not to be nervous. Big thanks to Krista for volunteering to teach (or in Madi's case- try to teach) all our kids how to swim!

An Update

I have so many thoughts I want to write down- so many posts I'm behind on. So, I'm skipping the Bachelorette tonight and doing some much needed blogging instead (I know, big sacrifice:). My mom's been here since Wednesday and it's been a whirlwind since she got here. That night mom stayed home with the girls while Spencer and I took off for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert at Wolftrap. It was a fun night- super nice to get out and just enjoy being with Spencer.

We had Thursday to play with mom, but didn't get much play time in. I ended up spending the day getting ready for our weekend youth conference trip- doing last minute shopping, making sure mom knew the girls schedule- where things were at, how to get to swim lessons, etc. etc.

Then Friday morning, at 4:40am, Spencer and I left our 2 girls behind and headed off to the Stake Center to be the "Ma and Pa" to 12 teenagers. The weekend was fabulous! I seriously had the time of my life. Youth Conference will definitely be getting it's own post, but I just have to say how much fun we had, how strong the spirit was, and how much we loved our "family". I gotta write up the details soon so not to forget anything. Below is us with our 12 children! :) What a fun group we had!!

The weekend flew by and I was sad for Youth Conference to end, but Sunday morning I woke up more excited than ever to see Madi and Elle. Just one night and two days away, but dang did I miss my two little babes! It was actually my first time ever being apart from Elle! It was a sweet reunion with her. Madi on the other hand has been Gram's sidekick since Wednesday and spends every waking moment doing whatever Gram's doing. I'm not sure how much she missed us.

Sunday Mom joined me in teaching the primary kids "Search, Ponder, and Pray". Mom was just called as the Primary chorister in her ward and I knew she'd be coming to take all her primary posters and props back to CA with her. But, being the amazing mom that she is, she's actually slaved away the past 2 days making all new posters for me! Ya, she's incredible! Thanks mom!

We played today. It's heavenly having another set of hands around to help. I've commented a couple dozen times how wonderful it would be to live closer to family. Hopefully someday. Madi's birthday is tomorrow! She's beyond excited- so excited it took her almost 3 hours to fall asleep tonight! I'm looking forward to making tomorrow such a special day for her. Then we're heading down to NC on Wednesday to meet my newest little nephew- mom and dad's 13th grandchild! On Saturday the girls and I will drive back to spend the 4th of July weekend in DC! I'm super excited- we've got lots of fun things planned and Adam Eshenroder's flying in on Friday to join us for all of it!

Copy Cat

On a regular basis (once or twice a week) I'm asked if Madi and Elle are twins. Weird right!? The first time someone asked me I was thinking- "You've got to be kidding me! One's 2 years older!" But once it started to become a regular question, I began to notice how maybe they could pass as twins. Ok, I still don't see it, but I started to think the people asking were a little less crazy! The best was this past weekend, when a dad with his own set of twins in his Costco shopping cart looked over, points at my girls and says, "Look, they're twins too!"

One thing I have noticed this past month is how much Elle loves to copy her sister Madi. We're now constantly telling Madi to be very careful with how she acts and to be a super good example cause Elle's always learning from her. Everything Madi does, Elle does. Madi lays on her stomach to read a book, Elle will lay on her stomach to read a book. Madi tells me she doesn't want to do something, Elle will tell me she doesn't want to do it. Madi says she has to go the bathroom, Elle tells me she has to go potty. Madi will ask for me something, and within seconds Elle's asking for the same thing. And just this morning Elle was crying about something and I thought it was Madi. The crying thing bugs us a bit since Madi's cry has always been super obnoxious and overly dramatic. We were hoping Elle would be our more even-keeled, rational child, but now we're realizing she's picking up on everything- including all the drama!

Father's Day Weekend

My goal this past weekend was to get as much crossed off my "to do" list as possible. The next 2 1/2 weeks are gonna be super busy- we don't have another open Saturday until July 16th- so this Saturday was jammed packed! As we were doing some meal planning, I asked Spencer what he was thinking we should do for Father's Day dinner (I rarely, if ever, cook on the weekend so it's a totally normal question to ask). Spencer jokingly tells me he's looking forward to me cooking. So of course I teased him about his impeccable timing in planning a fishing trip over Mother's Day weekend- reminding him that I happily ate leftovers for my Mother's Day dinner. But then later that evening, after Spencer had left for the store and I was folding laundry, I thought about last year at this time and how I was getting ready to leave on a trip the day after Father's Day. Spencer happily made dinner, did all the dishes, and then got up super early the next morning to make us all lunches and see us off. What a good husband I have! But truthfully, Spencer enjoys planning our weekend dinners and would actually prefer to be the one to cook- which I will forever be grateful for. He grilled us up some delicious carne asada that he marinated overnight, made some fresh guacamole, salsa, and warmed up some corn tortillas on the grill. Can I say YUM tacos!?!?! Add in some delicious corn on the cob and the sweetest watermelon and it was a fabulous dinner!

Some other things we did this Father's Day weekend:

* Got a lot of hang out with Dad time! I honestly think Madi and Elle look forward to the weekend more than I do. Here's a typical Saturday afternoon scene- a movie and nap with dad.

* On Saturday we went to our neighborhood ice cream social at the pool (almost 4 years of living here and it's the first one we've been to)! The girls were super excited about getting to eat ice cream (with toppings) at the pool. What a great treat!

On Sunday. . .

* I led the primary kids in singing a Father's Day medley (copied my mom's idea of singing "The Dearest Names" and then going right into "Fathers") to all the dads during sacrament meeting.

* I planned a fun Father's Day game for primary music time- called Boppin' Pop. Spencer came to help out as one of the dads in the junior primary. I'm not sure who had more fun- the dads, the kids, or me!!

* Then I ended the night by going to my last youth choir practice (we leave Friday morning for Kirtland). The Matthews surprised us with a cake for all the choir's hard work- we've been at it for over 3 months now!

As for other fun Father's Day traditions- I'm totally lacking in that department. I wanted to get a picture of the girls together to put in the card they made for Spencer with their handprints. It's pretty much impossible to get a good picture with these two. Here's a few of my attempts:

Madi's always up for getting her picture taken- it's always Elle who needs a little bit of bribbing.

Madi worked really hard at convincing Elle to smile.

A hug wasn't the best idea.

Elle taking matters into her own hands.

Madi got her feelings (and cheeks) hurt.

The stare down- I'm pretty sure they were supposed to be apologizing here.

And a make up hug!

Love these cute girls, but I wasn't wild about any of the pictures- so sorry Spence about not having a picture to put into your card. But I'm sure you already know how much your girls love and adore you. After dropping you off at the Metro Monday morning, Madi complained about the weekend being over and how she wished you didn't have to go to work. She just wanted more time to hang out with her dad. But what I loved the most was how insistent both girls were about getting a hug and a kiss from you as we pulled up to the Metro. Mondays are always the hardest day to say goodbye because of how much fun it is having you with us on the weekends. Thanks for being such an involved dad. Happy Father's Day to you!

Goose Egg

A morning out running errands resulted with a couple girls with lots of energy. While Spencer and I were checking out the sheets and bedding at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Madi and Elle were chasing each other up and down the aisles. Our clumsy little Madi tripped (go figure- she was running in flip flops), and face planted into the hard floor. Spencer and I heard a loud "thud" and we immediately knew it was Madi. Check out the goose egg on her forehead. Poor girl! Ouch!! And being the dramatically stubborn little girl that she is, Madi screamed all the way home and then refused any ice to help the swelling go down or tylenol. We always know its not too serious when she lays the dramatics on extra thick!! Hope she learned her lesson!