It's done!!

Here is a picture of the kitchen that we took when we were looking at this house to buy. Notice how outdate it looked with the mixed almond/white appliances, the white countertops, the old tarnished cabinet hardware and the shiny gray backsplash.

Here is a picture of Scott absolultely BUSTED, tearing down the backsplash in APRIL(with no intentions of replacing it until our new counters were installed)....by the way, our counters weren't installed until June....and he just put up the new backsplash....it's DECEMBER!

It was definitely worth the wait! He did an awesome job and our kitchen mini-remodel is finally done!

Up close so you can see the pain-staking pattern he did, just for me!

It's that time of year again...

I took both kids to the doctor today for coughs that had been lingering for weeks......

Madison came out with a potential diagnosis of asthma. This is the child who is never sick, gets 2 sniffles a year, no allergies, nada. But according to the doctor, she has two very common symptoms of asthma; a cough that arises with any type of exercise/running and a longer expiratory rate as opposed to being equal breaths in and out. She left with a prescription for an inhaler with the hopes that it DOESN'T help the cough, meaning it's a long standing viral infection making her cough instead of asthma. Let's hope!

Nathan, poor little guy, is apparently the victim of neglect seeing as the doctor gave him a breathing treatment as soon as she listened to his poor wheezing lungs, put him on steroids plus an antiobiotic for the raging ear infection in one ear, an infection so bad that she figured he probably couldn't hear out of that ear!!! Not to mention he was placed on breathing treatments 3X day. Oops.

Here's the little man, not happy about what is occurring. The only light at the end of his treatment tunnel is that he gets to push the off button on the machine. Yes, that's very exciting for him! (excuse my nastiness...this was taken early in the morning or late a night...either way, I look gross).

Zoo lights!

We took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to visit the zoo and see the spectacular Christmas lights they put up every year, before the chance was gone. We had a fun time, the lights were better than any previous year, and we had hot chocolate (which Nathan adores, by the way...I barely got any!) and headed home. The highlight of the evening was heading inside the aquarium building, which sports a floor to ceiling, 100 ft. long aquarium, and seeing a man in scuba gear inside the tank feeding the fish and waving to everybody. The kids thought it was THE neatest thing ever! It was a fun family night!

Scott was tired before we even entered the zoo! Didn't we tell you to rest before hand, Scott?

Me and my babes.

A bad picture of us, but you get a better idea of the lights!

All four of us, taken by some strange lady who took like 5 pictures because she didn't like how they were turning out. She's my kind of picture taker!!

Enough with the pictures, already!

The Best of Both Worlds!

Madison chose a few of her closest friends to take with her to Club Libby Lu's to celebrate her 5th birthday. The girls all got cute up-do's done, lip gloss and shadow, along with glittery painted nails. After the makeover, they got to fill a goody bag full of fun pink girly things of their choice, then they went out in front of the store and danced to a song by Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) called, The Best of Both Worlds. So cute! Following the party, they had pink cupcakes with ice cream sundaes. It doesn't get much better than that! Enjoy!

Her day

Can I just say exhausting?? Phew! Her birthday is over and she's tucked in tight. She had an amazing day, thanks in part to good friends and family. Thank you, you know who you are!!

Her morning started out with opening presents...again. I guess it never gets old to a kid, huh?

We went out to lunch at Max and Erma's, where they sang a very loud Happy Birthday to Madison. She was just beaming from ear to ear, it made ME so happy to see her happy! It's safe to say Madison loves all eyes on her. ;)

Then we met her best friend, Kendyl, for an afternoon at the movies. Fun! Look at those divas!

This evening, family and friends came over to eat cake and ice cream and sing Happy Birthday....again! I guess singing "that song" doesn't get old to kids either! She was in heaven. AND, she got her Hannah Montana guitar she had been eyeing for awhile....

The amazing Hannah Montana themed birthday cake, made especially for her.

Everyone singing to her again....notice the beam??

And here's my money shot. December 26, 2008 @ 5:55PM!!

5 Years Old Today!

Five years ago today, Scott and I welcomed our first born child into this world! We didn't know the sex ahead of time and were surprised and excited beyond words to learn that she was a GIRL! At 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 21 inches long, she came out healthy and screaming. It's true what most parents say about life before kids...you don't remember it! Our lives were forever changed for the better on that day, December 26, 2003. Today we have an outgoing, caring, active and curious, beautiful young lady to admire and be proud of every single day.


It's a Girl!

One day old

Every year on her birthday, we take a picture of her at the time of her birth, 5:55pm, with a time stamp on the picture. Cheesy, I know...but it's fun to look back at and smile at how much she has changed.

One Year Old (sick and NOT feeling well)

Two Years Old

3 Years Old
Four Years Old

Today, I'll have one more picture to add to my collection!

Happy 5th Birthday, baby girl!!

Christmas Morning!

Madison woke up at 4:30 am this morning asking to go downstairs to see what Santa brought. Much to her dismay, we declined her request and she subsequently burst into tears. Thankfully she went back to sleep and both her and Nathan slept in until 8am, which is a Christmas present alone to Scott and I!!

She was SO excited to come downstairs to see her goodies. Nathan was somewhat oblivious as to what was going on, but quick to follow his sisters' lead. In fact, the whole thing happened so quickly and I was frantically trying to take pictures of the chaos, that I have a hard time remembering it even happening! How sad is that!? I need to hire a photographer next year.

The kids got everything on their list (except Madison's unexpected newest addition to her Christmas list, which was a request for a castle with three bedrooms and monkey bars...huh? ). Believe me, she looked for the castle but was unable to find it under that tree. However, her and Nathan were thoroughly involved in all their new toys and before we knew it, it was 2pm and we were still in our jammies!

It's FINALLY Christmas!!!

The skates that were at the top of her list!
Nathan and his new train table. He loved it!


All the cousins together.

Our family, Christmas 2008.

On another note, I tucked my 4-year-old into bed tonight for the last time. Tomorrow when she wakes, she will be FIVE!!!

Christmas Eve

What a great kick-off to Christmas! Grandma and Grandpa came over to celebrate Christmas Eve with lots of food and lots of presents.

Whooo hooo! Pop 'n Swaps!

A bike for Nathan...and his feet reach the pedals!

Making cookies for Santa

So excited they can hardly contain themselves!

Reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas"

Christmas excitement to follow!

Who could resist?

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Jingle Bells!

Do you recognize this song?

The preschool years

Today was supposed to be Madison's birthday celebration day at school. The "birthday kid" gets to bring in a special birthday snack and is the star of the class for that one special day. Of course it would so happen that there was a drop of ice on the ground this morning, and school was closed. Lovely. We decorated two dozen cookies last night and Madison went to bed eagerly anticipating this day. I'll just say she was NOT a happy camper when I broke the news to her that school was canceled and her birthday celebration will be postponed until January.


Now I have a good couple of pounds to gain as I consume those cookies that are glaring at me from the counter.

Later this morning she got a phone call from a little boy in her class. She's never talked to him outside of class, so I was curious as to why he was calling. This particular boy has the most adorable, sweet attitude that you can't help but to be captured by, and Madison talks about him frequently. They chatted for a couple minutes and then she practically threw the phone at me while yelling excitedly that he invited her to go to lunch at McDonalds tomorrow after school. Um, what? Is this a date? I put the phone to my ear and was relieved to hear that he had plans to invite everybody today while at school, but because school was canceled, he was calling everyone instead!

As soon as I hung up the phone, Madison jumped up from the couch, looked and me and announced, "I'm going to draw him a picture!" and stomped off to her desk. If you remember from past posts, to receive a picture from Madison means you've made her feel pretty darn good. And I must say, the picture she drew pretty much melted my heart. It was SO stinkin' cute. I wish she didn't have to give it to him because I want to keep it and pack it away forever!

She says it's a picture of her and Max going down the slide together at McDonalds.

How cute is that???

And yes, she says "I love you" but I promise, it's purely platonic. :)

Picture Tag!

The object of the picture tag is to:
1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder
3) Explain the picture
4) Tag 4 people to do the same
NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

So here is mine...

No, Madison is not drinking wine. We had left over sparkling grape juice from Easter dinner and Andy was over this particular night and wanted to drink the sparkling grape juice from a wine glass. Well, of course Madison just HAD to be just like Andy! So I got her a wine glass and voila! We teach 'em young in this house....

The four people I tag are

Hayley- because you have nothing better to do this week while you lounge around a ski lodge drinking hot chocolate and reading books.

Traci- because I know you need help with ideas to blog with since you haven't blogged in FOREVER!

Khrystin- because I always love seeing pictures of your babies!

Melissa- because you don't post pictures NEARLY enough :)

Then and Now

I got the kids Christmas pictures taken yesterday and when I went to put it in the frame, the picture from last year was there. It's so cute to see the change!

December 2007

December 2008

Gingerbread housin'

We spent this morning decorating a gingerbread house. Madison, as always, loved the activity. But this was the first time Nathan got in on the action. Of course he probably ate more candy than he actually placed on the house, but he thoroughly enjoyed the activity happily proclaiming, "I did it!" everytime he placed candy on the house.

Ho Ho Ho!

My kids are in the spirit of Christmas, even in the bathtub!

Merry Christmas!

#3

Madison lost her THIRD tooth this afternoon. Yes, her 3rd tooth before her 5th birthday. Crazy! This particular tooth has been hanging on by a thread for what seems like forever, so I offered to pull it out for her....much to my surprise, she agreed! I grabbed a little tissue paper, grasped the tooth, and out it popped in my hand. Ewww! This one was a bleeder, though. THAT she was not happy about. Once it stopped, she gladly phoned a few special people (daddy, nana) to tell them it was out.

The tooth fairy has our address memorized now!

Big boy underpants!

I'm giving it a shot. When Scott saw Nathan wearing Madison's outgrown underpants this morning, he let me know gently it was time to go to Target to outfit Nathan's drawers with something a little more manly than 'The Little Mermaid' panties.

He's still very interested in using the potty and goes 2-3 times a day on it, so why not? I'm on break from school and not stressed. My limit is one die-hard week like we did with Madison. One week and she was potty trained. If it's any more difficult with Nathan, my opinion is that he's not ready. So wish me luck!

If this is any indication how it's gonna go, I better stop now!

Nathan with his new big boy underpants.

"Nofakes"

That's "snowflakes" in Nathan's world.

He just LOVES going out to try and catch them on his tongue. It's so cute! And I came home this afternoon to Nathan and Scott shoveling the driveway together. Well, ok, Nathan's idea of shoveling is pushing his little rake around in the snow, but still, how cute is that!?!?

Freedom!

I took my final today, so I'm a FREE woman for the next month! Oh, I'm so taking advantage of this time I have. There are so many things I've been wanting to do lately, but I've been putting them off because of school taking up 99% of my free time! Just knowing I have NOTHING to do tonight makes me able to breathe so much easier! Yay!!!!

My little helpers

After the kids climbed into their jammies tonight, we came downstairs to make brownies. They both were decked out with their Santa hats and were just too cute for words!