Razorback Day

Madilynn referred to Saturday as "Razorback day"! After breakfast out and running some errands we were home for the day. Madilynn and I made some strawberry jello with marshmallows in our new Razorback mold. She loved helping to put the marshmallows on top!

During nap time I caught this guy in the backyard...this was taken out the kitchen window!
The girls spent the evening playing hard and "watching" the game so silly
Elizabeth loves playing with the kitchen and all the pots and pans. Also, she's not walking yet, but she'll be up on her knees like this and walk on her knees, so funny!

Towards the end of the game...it was bedtime!

Also to note: Madilynn's version of calling the hogs was "Shoooie Piggy!" I thought it was so funny. I think she knew she was being silly, but she still won't say "Soooie" it's "Shoooie" everytime! Maybe one day she'll figure it out.

Listening

Where would I be if I hadn’t been lead to Christ? LOST, that’s where. There has been a lot of tears and mucus running today. Madilynn has always had a way of breaking me down. How can a child so small and so innocent literally “blow up” all the granite built up in a grown man’s heart? I guess it only takes a little stick of dynamite.

It’s been rough. It’s been rough on my wife. It’s been rough on my kids. I don’t want to sound like a whiner because I couldn’t get through some of the things that our friends in Iowa have been going through with their new baby. Praise God for strong Christian men like James Carlat. Yet the act of balancing life, family, and work has been really tough. I sit here barely able to get through this note. I’m a mess today. I guess it’s an every two year thing or maybe I’ve slowed down just enough to listen. In the past two years we’ve lost family members, gained a new member (thank goodness Elizabeth looks like her mommy as well), graduated ISU, got a job at USU, celebrated 5 years of marriage, and moved approximately 1,312 miles from our families.

What provoked this random blurb was on the way to pre-school this morning “Lead Me” by Sanctus Real (Men, I challenge you to sit still in a quiet place and listen) was on the radio and Madilynn was singing along. I was in awe. She is going to be 4 years old this year (in 21 days). Not a baby anymore, not a toddler but a little girl who is a free spirit, a random act of kindness, a social butterfly, a beautiful child. She is going to pre-school for crying out loud. One of my colleagues at work was impressed by how well she can speak clearly and talk in complete sentences. What’s next, college then medical school? Thank the lord she has her mother’s smarts and looks. I still pray she accepts Christ as her savior and follows Him all of her days. We talk about Christ living in her heart. I still pray she marries a godly husband and remembers the things we teach her. I cherish reading her the bible at bedtime and praying with her. I wanted to give a shout out to all the grandparents for raising us right. I hope that it gets passed on. Friends thank you for your kindness. Darius Rucker said it pretty well in his song “it won’t be like this for long.” Watch out you might just miss the point trying to win the race. You might even be running the wrong race.

“Life’s not the breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away” ~ George Straight, “Breath you take”

Thanks everyone for listening to me and Happy Birthday, Madilynn. I love you so much.

A cold, cold, wet day...

Well today was a great day to stay at home, and good thing we didn't have anywhere to go! It was pretty cool and rained just about the whole day. So, we did some fun things at home!

We began just after breakfast with fingerpainting!

Elizabeth's first experience with paints...

She did really well and only tried to eat it a couple times...i don't think it tasted very good!
Madilynn loved painting...she enjoyed mixing a lot of colors!

the creations...

Meanwhile, something was baking in the oven...zuccini bread! The girls love it, and we sure enjoyed it with our lunch!

After nap it was snack time...

being silly

yes, she's still in her pajamas...she did get dressed shortly after this picture was taken and before Daddy got home!

And, in case you were wondering...

this is what happens everyday when Daddy gets home from work...

he's attacked, with lots of hugs of course!!

For supper we tried a new recipe for chicken & rice involving a ranch dip packet and a stick of butter...it was so good, (sorry no pic) with steamed broccoli from the garden.
To top off the day Elizabeth received a birthday package from Granny & Pepaw in the mail! We were able to video chat with Granny, so she could watch while Elizabeth opened it!

wow!

she loved all the animals and they make sounds too - so cool!!

Elizabeth kept saying "Hi" and waving at the camera like she really wanted to talk! She has also started repeating us (sometimes) when we say "bye-bye" and it's too cute.

Another thing to note about today...

All day long I've had the Dr. Seuss book The Cat in the Hat going through my head. It starts out with something like they stayed inside on that cold, cold, wet day... I didn't say anything about it though, and we didn't read the book today, but while we were at the table for supper Madilynn said something about this cold, cold, wet day like she was thinking of the book too. I thought that was pretty cute!

Wooo Pig Soooie!!

Even though we are in Utah we still dressed for the Razorbacks on Saturday!! We were even able to watch the first home game on the laptop, it was great!!

The girls enjoying their pumpkin bread!
Mommy and Daddy

Madilynn showing off her new necklace that Granny sent to her...

Daddy & Elizabeth hanging out watching football on Saturday

We had a relaxing weekend and didn't do anything big - we just spent time together and watched a lot of football!!

This afternoon I caught them reading a book together...

Here are a few videos of Elizabeth and what she's been doing lately!

The first is Elizabeth dancing and singing!


Elizabeth playing...


Elizabeth reading a book, then the spider crawl, as fast as she can go!!

One Year Stats...

This morning we had Elizabeth's one year check up. Here we are before we left!

It was just us since Madilynn had preschool this morning.
Elizabeth at one year you weigh 18lbs. 14oz. and you're 29.25in. long!
She was 15% in weight and 50% in length and head circumference. The doctor wasn't worried at all about her weight since she eats really well. She is just sooo active (sound familiar?). She was all over the place while we were in the doctor's office! But, we do have to wait a little longer to turn her car seat facing forward since she'll have to be 20lbs.

Some things to note at one year:

• Teeth #5 & #6 just broke through on Friday (Aug. 27th) bottom right lateral incisor and top left lateral incisor
• She's still eating really well some things we've just tried lately are blueberries and she loves them and scrambled eggs and she's just not too sure. She doesn't eat them up as good as I thought she would. I think if we could've introduced them earlier she may have done better with them.
• Drinks from sippy cup or out of a straw - no more bottles (they are all put away!) She's doing great, she thinks she's so big already!
• Our new bedtime routine (without a bottle) is a bath, then we read a book or two and put her down. She's done great! Just as good as before.
• She has really enjoyed reading books more lately and likes to turn the pages, and say "wow" or "baa"
• She's LOUD...makes lots of sounds. She will definitely let you know when she needs attention or wants something she just hollars really loud. We're working on this...
• Only time she says, "mama, mama" is when she's whinning/crying and wants me to pick her up. She say's "Dada" really good. Just in the last week she's started saying "Baa" and I think it's from her books and learning what a sheep says. She'll also say, "Ba" and point to a ball! Then Saturday (her birthday) instead of just shaking her head no she started actually saying, "no, no, no" it's kind of funny now, but I'm sure it won't be very soon!
• She stood alone for the first time! Yesterday evening we were playing outside and she stood up by herself in the middle of the yard several times for more than 5 seconds at a time. She would just be playing with a leaf and not realize what she was doing and slowly stand up from her squat position. Stand for 5-6 seconds then slowly squat back down! So exciting to see!!

So it's definitely a new season around here now! USU started back today (Daddy is officially back to work!), Madilynn has started preschool, Elizabeth has transitioned from bottle to cup, formula to milk, and I think fall is here in Utah!

It's been a little cooler for the last week and we've had more rain here and there. I think it has rained more today than it did all summer long! Time to turn off the sprinklers, I guess. It even hailed a little today. Here's Elizabeth watching the rain out the window before nap time. "Wow" trying to touch it Yesterday before church, a quick picture of the girls... Isn't this the way it goes!! Madilynn's just trying to help us get a picture without Elizabeth getting away and Elizabeth is like, "let go of me!" hahaha!

Elizabeth is ONE!!!

So, we started out the day at "the bread place"! Here are the girls!

After breakfast we started getting ready for her party! We invited lots of people from Michael's work to come over tonight and celebrate with us! I started on the cupcakes and Michael worked outside some. Here I am icing the cupcakes!
While I made the icing Michael put together all these vegetable kabobs - so pretty!
After we had some lunch, Elizabeth opened her presents...

We got her a bible story book, a baby, and a dora ball!

Here she is looking at a card from Nana, Papa, & Ashlee

we had to help her with opening the presents she wasn't really sure about it.

Here she is with an Elephant Daddy Gene & Ladonna sent - so cute we love it!

playing with her baby

She played with her new toys for a little while and got to talk to Nana, Mama, & Ashlee on the computer before naptime.

During naptime Michael and I finished up getting the food ready...

I thought the table turned out great! This was our first big get together in Utah, so I was so excited to get to use all of my crystal thats been packed away for the last few years!

snacktime having her crackers and juice

She loved the balloons!

I had two tables set up out on the deck. The weather was perfect just the right temperature.

eating blueberries, she loved them!

Mommy & Daddy with the birthday girl!

almost time for cupcakes!

It looks like she doesn't know what to think...

yummy cupcake

and ice cream too!

What a special day it was!!!

And...here's a video of singing Happy Birthday and her reaction to it all. I think all of a sudden she was a little overwhelmed and realized everyone was singing to her...