FSA Adoption 5K Walk...

On Novemeber 6th is the Annual FSA (families supporting adoption) Adoption 5k Walk at Liberty Park. It begins at 10:00 but registration is at 9:30. It's free. We are participating and will be wearing Madi and Mindy's name. If anyone would like to join us let me know and I will get you more info. We would love the support!

Miss Madi...

Little miss Madi is growing up so fast. She loves to climb in anything she can and has recently discovered the cupboards at the bottom of our armoire. Some of her favorite things to do is to look at books and have stories read to her, watch Baby Einstein's (any with animals) and play with her Little People Zoo. She LOVES animals and gets giddy when she sees one whether it is real, stuffed, on TV or in a book. She loves to watch people and lately is really into babies. She will point them out anytime she sees one. (I think she is getting ready to be a big sister. I know I am ready for another little one. We will be starting the long adoption process again soon!) She HATES her car seat. I think I would too. I am sure she will be better when we change it to forward facing but I want to keep it rear as long as possible. She has twelve teeth and is cutting all four eye teeth right now. She LOVES green beans, meat, cheese and especially her bottle, but will only drink milk from it. Her favorite place to be is outside. She points out the window all day and if she sees you head for the door she follows as quick as she can so she can come too. She still isn't walking on her own yet which totally shocks me since she has been doing it for seven months while she is holding onto something. Guess she's just not ready. She says more and more words but mama, dada and Jesus are the only ones she says consistently. Yesterday she said Bekka and she has been saying horse and fish lately. She is such a joy to have in our home and in our family. I can't imagine life without her. I love her so much and am so grateful to be her mom! I love you sweet baby!

The Pumpkin Walk...

Last Friday night we went to West Point City's Halloween Carnival. We stayed for about five minutes before deciding that she was still a little young for it. So, we headed to our next stop... Syracuse City's Pumpkin Walk... The Pumpkin Walk was started 30 years ago by Liseanne's grandparents. (The friend in my ward that is having her second set of twins in four weeks. So jealous!) Ten years ago, Syracuse City adopted it. We hadn't been before but really wanted to see what it was all about. We got there a few minutes before 8:00. There was a line but it looked like it was moving quick and didn't seem to be too long. They had some blow up decorations by the line and Madi kept pointing at them so I thought I would take her to see them. She saw and that was enough for her...
The poor girl was terrified of the enormous kitty!
We went back to join Derrick and wait our turn. We were TOTALLY deceived by the line. After waiting about twenty minutes we were able to see that the REAL line went behind the library, across the parking lot, down the sidewalk and then doubled back toward the city building, along side it, around the front of it, past the park, to the police station were the walk began. Madi started fussing so Derrick went to get her some popcorn. Who knows why but it took almost half an hour to get it. The kind lady behind us gave her a handful which kept her happy for a bout five seconds.

By the time Derrick got back she was in complete melt down mode. She had had it. She wanted the drink of the guy behind us so when Derrick came back I went to get a bottled water. (Since we ate right before we came and I had changed her diaper we left the diaper bag at home. BIG mistake!) I got back and gave her some water. By this point we had been in line over an hour and I was not about to give up and go home. So, I bent over in her stroller and sang to her while rubbing her cheek and pushing her stroller a little back and forth. It worked!!! She fell asleep. :DAfter waiting in a longer line then the ones at Disneyland (and I am NOT exaggerating) we finally got to the beginning. The pumpkins were amazing! There were over 1,100 pumpkins, many with so many tiny details. They truly were pieces of art. I loved this one. The man at the end of the evolution chain is saying "Stop following me!" Another one I thought was awesome was a chunky kid on a teeter totter and the little one was in the air. It read "Stop childhood obesity".

There were so many that were incredible. Liseanne's kids all had pumpkins in there. Cordell did a terrific one of Joseph Smith. I thought I had taken a picture of it but I must not have because it wasn't on my camera.

Here is a group of pumpkins from the kids at the Kiddie Kollege. (I think Liseanne's family owns it.)

More from the Kiddie Kollege...Toy story pumpkins...

Movie titles...

Doc... (They had just about every Disney movie throughout the walk.)

Donald Duck...

Liseanne said the ones that are really detailed like these were done mostly by her family and her brother's families.

This one's for you Chris... Darth was actually there along with some storm troopers and a few other Star Wars characters. I didn't get pictures of them though.

Even with the long line we decided to make it a family tradition. It was so fun and even more special to see the talent of the kids in my primary. Liseanne's are some of the funnest kids I know. I love to see them each week and am so blessed to be in the primary with them and so many other little ones. Thanks Liseanne for the suggestion and for sharing your families talents!

Lucky me...

My sister, Bekka, has been going to cosmotology school for the last year and is getting ready to graduate on Saturday. As part of her last two weeks she got to pick someone to do an all day makeover on. I was her lucky pick! She gave me a facial, pedicure, gel toes, waxed, a cut, deep condition treatment and color. Until yesterday I hadn't noticed how brown my hair has gotten. It made me sad because my hair color has always been one of my features that I actually liked. Thanks to Bekka, the auburn is back and I LOVE the colors she used! Thanks Bekka for a wonderful day! Side view...

Terrific Tuesday...

Our ward had a Terrific Tuesday this week in place of a Super Saturday. I love those. We have some amazing talent in our ward and it is so nice that they are willing to teach and share their ideas. I made this super cute door hanger and a set of three Christmas tree blocks.

A HUGE thank you to Liseanne who is only five weeks away from delivering her sixth AND seventh babies. She came up with the ideas and cut out the wood. She really is super mom! Thanks Liseanne!

Paintin' Pumpkins

On Sunday we went over to my brother's new place to paint pumpkins. Chris grew them all and was so great to let each of us have one. Here's Madi with her Auntie Bekka and Holly. This is my pumpkin. (Derrick's still isn't quite finished.)
Here is all of them. Chris is going to carve the big one. It is big enough that Madi would probably fit inside it. (Derrick's is the two face pumpkin in the front)

We had a great time. Thank you Chris and Annie for inviting us!

A rough day for Kyah...

We had planned to go to the zoo this morning while Jaxon's at school. We have breakfast, pack a lunch and head out. I got off the freeway and Kyah said the seat belt was hurting her tummy. I told her to pull it out a little so it wasn't so tight. She did and said it still hurt. Moments later she puked. Anyone who knows me well knows that I don't do puke. I pulled over, got some wipes and started cleaning it up. Within seconds I was puking all over the parking lot. Once we were all cleaned up Kyah seemed really perky so I asked her how she felt. She said good and she wanted to go to the zoo.

We got to the zoo and pretty much all the animals were out. Most were eating there lunch. It was cool to watch. While we were watching the orangutans play, Kyah grabbed onto the fence. She got a big sliver. It is deep too. She wouldn't let me get it out and was crying cause it hurt. The carousel cheered her up though!

Madi rode it by herself without me holding onto her for the first time. She LOVED it! I love this girl! I could just kiss those chubby cheeks all day!
She rode on the panda bear. Kyah picked the tiger.

See, told ya it made her happy! :D

After the carousel we went to see the tigers. Madi actually say on the bronze tigers for a picture. Yeah Madi!!!

On the way to see the elephants Kyah fell. She was okay but then on our way out she fell AGAIN! Poor kid is going to have bruised knees and a sore hand from her zoo trip. Hopefully the rest of the day goes a little better for her. :D

It's extended....

I am closing my eshow on Monday so you still have a few days to order! Books make great Christmas gifts and Usborne Books pffers over 1,400 items to choose from!!!

Don't forget...

Tonight is my Usborne Book party at 6:30. I hope you are coming but if you can't make it you can still order some great books for your kids. Go to my eshow at www.ubah.com/hos182352 and place your order today!

Sliding...

About a month ago we had a DI drive that Derrick helped with. They were about done and decided to take one more pass through the neighborhood to make sure they got everything. There was one more thing, a slide. The truck was full so Derrick had to ride on the hood of the truck holding it so it was dropped at our house instead of the DI. Madi has wanted nothing to do with it. Every time I tried to have her slide she would cry, until yesterday when she decided to do it herself. She is growing up so fast!!! We decided we are going to have to get her a little slide.

A new family tradition...

Yesterday we started a new family Halloween tradition. We went to Black Island Farms and had so much fun that we decided we were going to do this every year. They had an animal alley that you could see all the farm animals and feed them if you wanted. Most of them were not close enough to the fence to be able to feed them though. Madi LOVES animals so she really enjoyed that.

They had a swing set that had three tire swings, a shark, a horse and a bull. Here's Derrick and Madi on the shark. Derrick said they were NOT comfortable. :D They had two bulls that you could rope. We didn't rope them but did let Madi have a ride. She thought that was pretty fun.

I love this picture!

Next was the big haystack slide. Madi and I went down it first. Climbing up was fun because it was just a rope net to use, no stairs. Would've been easier without Madi but we made it up. Madi was actually a little scared on this.

Next was Derrick's turn with Madi. I told him to have fun and when he saw the net, he knew why. :D Madi looks like she is going to fall right out of his arms. She's hanging on for dear life!

At the bottom they slid right off trying to miss a kid that went down at the same time. They had a grain chute slide that was next but I failed to get pictures of that. We rode on the cow train. It was a bumpy ride! Here's Derrick and Madi in their "cow".

Next was one of Madi's favorites, the corn box. We buried her in the corn. She wasn't sure about it at first but seemed to like it after a minute or two.

Gettin' a little corny!!!Madi would have played in this the rest of the day if we had let her. We got her out and she climbed right back in.

They had a smaller hay slide for little kids. (they actually had two others in between the big and little ones too) Under it were barrels to climb through. Madi thought this was great! She crawled from one side to the other. She didn't go all the way though. She made sure she stayed far enough from the opening that we couldn't grab her. After about five minutes of trying to coax her, Derrick crawled in to get her so some other kids could have a turn.

Madi enjoyed the little slide much more. She would copy the other kids and try to climb up it after she slid down. She actually did really well. The other adults kept commenting on how strong she is.

"Keep going Madi, you're half way there!"She is a tough little girl! The kids would slide into her or knock her down and she would just grin and try again.

Sliding back down

She had so much fun doing this and didn't want to leave this either.

I know there are tons of pictures but we didn't get pictures of the rest. We took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch and got a couple pumpkins. We went through one of their Twilight themed corn mazes and by then Madi was hungry and tired so we headed home. There was so much more there to do. They had four mazes, one was haunted, a haunted barn, live music, face painting, farmers market and lots more in the courtyard were the slides were. We had a wonderful time and all really enjoyed ourselves. Can't wait til next year!

You have to pick your battles...

We thought that Madi was becoming a picky eater because she wouldn't want foods that she has liked other times. It didn't take me long to figure out that she had actually entered her "do it myself" phase. If we won't let her feed it to herself she won't eat it. We usually let her try but most of our meals aren't too messy or we alter them a little for her. Today we had chili for lunch and she REALLY wanted to feed herself. Since she hadn't had a bath and I needed to mop the floor I gave in on this oh so messy lunch.

She likes Danimal Smoothies but I usually hold them and she throws a fit while she drinks them because she wants to hold it. Problem is it would be all over in a matter of seconds if I let her hold them but, I let her today. She is trying to put her straw in it.

See, all over! She used her hands and legs to make sure she could spread it as far as possible.

mmmmmmmm...

I love watching Madi grow. It is so fun to watch her change and learn new things. I enjoy every minute with her and don't mind cleaning up her messes. I love to see her try new things like trying to feed herself with a spoon or fork. I love her excitement when I ask her if she wants a bath. I love her chatter and that she likes to sing with me or the radio. I love reading her stories and cuddling with her. Being a mom is so much better than I ever imagined. What an amazing little girl I have! I love you sweet Madi!

Tinkerbell...

I'm sure that no one could have guessed that Madi is going to be Tinkerbell for Halloween. :D I have been sewing like crazy the last two days on her costume. It is so fun! I still have to finish the wings, make her shoes, do something for her hair and add some more sequins but she looks so cute I had to take pictures.
What a cheeser!I hope she doesn't grow between now and Halloween or I will be making the body suit again! Good thing I have a TON of extra material!

Got the biopsy results....

...and I don't have cancer! YEA!!!

Bathtime???

Last night Madi had a bubble bath. She didn't want to get out so we let her play and play. By the time we got her out she was a little prune! We got her in her pjs and all ready for bed. Then Derrick and I went into the kitchen to get the scriptures and her bottle. When Derrick went back in her room she wasn't there. He came back out and saw her in the tub. Yep, she got in all by herself!

When she saw us at the door way she started climbing back out.

She must have barely made it. Look how short her little legs are!

Okay, I need suggestions. Can you see the little bruise on Madi's forehead? It's about the size of a quarter and is always there because when she sleeps she scoots herself up to the bars as far as she can and rest her head right there. She usually wakes up with a good dent in her forehead. The other problem she has with her crib is that she gets her chubby little knees stuck in between the bars. I have to butter them to get them out. I am afraid she's going to break her leg trying to get them out one day. I have measured the spacing and it 2 1/8" so totally within standards. We put a bumper in but she would push it down and lay on it and still push her head into the bars when she slept. Aside from moving her to a big girl bed does anyone have suggestions?