Flash game

After the birthday party, we went to watch a Guns and Hoses game followed by pizza and a Flash game. The Guns and Hoses was a Police vs. Firefighters basketball game. We were very late, but we made it!
Alexis and Drew were so very tired after the party that they both fell dead asleep while driving to the basketball games. When Stephanie turned around to wake up Alexis and Drew, Alexis was very startled and she woke up and said: "WHAT GUYS? WHAT?" Drew said: "I'm sleeping now, I'll come later." They were very tired.

This is the picture we get when we try to get a cute picture of the cousins. All the pictures had someone pulling on someone else or someone being a nut. Such is life with kids!

Surprise Birthday!!

What a cute picture of these two!

They both were eating frosting from their own cans. What a treat.
(Don't worry, they only did it after I took the frosting I wanted out!)

For Alexis' birthday she went to get her nails done while all her guests arrived. The nail place took a lot longer than we had planned. Because it was her birthday they painted cute flowers on her nails and then tipped them with sparkles. So, instead of the 10 minutes that I had planned, they took 30! Oops. (She picked off all the polish that same day.)

I've attempted to do cakes that are cute before, but they hadn't really turned out. This is the first cake that turned out how I wanted it to. Well, almost. But I think that it's great for a first try. Alexis loved it and that's all that truly matters.

We had cupcakes too!

Everyone eating!

Present time. I would've put more pictures up, but our camera girl forgot to focus so this is the only one that turned out!



This is the video of Alexis being surprised. When we came home, she saw all the cars and she asked if everyone was here for her birthday. I told her no, they were at other people's houses and maybe someone came to see our basement. When we walked in it was quiet and the house looked so nice and clean! She walked towards the kitchen and everyone shouted: "Surprise!". She was stone faced. There was absolutely no reaction other than her eyes looking all around. Later she told me that it scared her, but she told Aunt Carrie that it was a good scare.

How far can you stick your finger up your nose?

I'm sure the title gave away most of it. Today, right before the Dr.'s office closes, Drew came up to me and told me that he put a candy up his nose. I looked, didn't see anything, and figured that he was teasing me. That was until he put his finger up his nose. Dude, his finger went way past the point that I thought it should be able to. It was at that point that I knew we had a problem. I took a second look and sure enough, clear up in the nether regions of his left nostril there was something that looked strangely familiar, like a Yogo.

A Yogo, for those who don't know, is a little ball of fruit that is covered in a hard yogurt shell. Now before you start thinking that I give my kids healthy food, the first ingredient is sugar I'm sure.

It was too far up to get by pushing it from the top and squeezing it out, I had no clue what to do. So I did what anyone would do, I called my mom. She said to call the Dr. I did, and then went running, luckily Steph was here and she was able to come and watch the girls while I held Drew down. It took nearly thirty minutes, washes, water, little grabbers and some pressurized air. At the end he was crying and saying: "Save me Mommy". Poor kid was tramatized, but I bet he doesn't put anything else up his nose. Finally we got it out, at least we think we did. Eric could no longer see it and Drew puked everywhere so here's hoping. As we were leaving he told me that he didn't want to pick his nose anymore!

On a side note, Madison figured out how to throw her food that she doesn't want onto the kitchen floor. Wahoo!!

I love my teacher

I didn't want to forget to write this down.

The other day Alexis told me that she loved her teacher. When I asked her if she had told her teacher that she loved her, she said: "No, she's always so busy with the kids." Funny that she doesn't see herself as one of those "kids".

Grizzlies

For Christmas, Carrie and Denny gave us tickets to a Utah Grizzlies game (hockey). We went last night and were able to leave the older kids with Steph! I was expecting better fights than we got, but you take what you get. Neither John or I have been to the E Center before, so it was fun to see what it was. It wasn't very crowded as you can see in the picture, so it was nice to be able to talk and move freely. Thanks for the great Christmas gift!!Madison LOVED the popcorn. She was digging in with both hands and then shoveling it in, some of it made it in, a lot fell down her jacket. It kept her entertained for almost half an hour!

March picture post

I caught the kids playing in John's car. When I went out they said that they were stuck, they couldn't get the door open. I asked them what they would've done had I not come out to check on them and Alexis says: "Well, there is no phone in this car and nobody was around so I honked the horn." Sure enough, she'd been honking it, which is what made me wonder why my backyard was free of little voices.

The blue pillow is John's side of the bed, the orange pillow that is falling off is where I sleep when Maddie MJ (this is what Alexis and Drew call her) comes to bed with us. I now know why I can't gain weight, if I did, I wouldn't have anywhere to sleep!

Alexis' great camera shot got this of Steph!

My view of the dinner table left to right:

Little Miss Alexis

Studly Drew

"My True Love's Kiss"

Little Miss Maddie MJ

Stephanie has been working with the kids on their Barbie song. Too bad she doesn't know which way a camera should be turned.

I should know better by now

So I did it, I opened my mouth (figuratively) and announced Madison was sleeping through the night. Shouldn't I know better than to do that? Well, it happened again, I said it and she decided to prove me wrong. As I write this, John and I are both walking zombies and we are already seriously contemplating putting the kids to bed early tonight, is that bad to already be planning bed time?

Drew woke up at least twice, Alexis once and Madison. . . let's just say that she's out like a light right now and I don't think she'll wake up until this afternoon. They ALL have Drew's nasty cold and I'm praying it doesn't last too long. Poor Madison didn't know what to do with herself, she couldn't breath well and she doesn't know how to blow her nose. Let's just pray that John and I don't get it!

On an up note, although I don't think that Drew has croup, which leaves a nasty cold with asthma, I don't think his asthma is getting worse. His attack last night only lasted for a couple of minutes and I think I was more concerned about it than he was! So maybe we'll avoid all the medications that go along with it!

Doctors and Tigers

Madison is sleeping through the night!! She still screams anywhere from twenty minutes to two hours when we put her in bed, but once she's out it's heaven. Now if I could fall asleep before midnight it would be even better.

I took Drew to the doctor today because he was having difficulty breathing last night and he either has croup or a nasty cold with asthma. I'm hoping it's croup, less expensive and it should be gone in another night. I never thought I'd be cheering for croup.

The basement bathroom should be finished within the week!! It's so exciting! Then we can put a for sale sign in the front yard. We just can't decide to go with a realtor or not, they take a good chunk of change.

And, one cute story to end the post. Today in Dr. Eric's patient room he had a calendar with a tiger on it. Drew was telling me that he loves tigers, Alexis piped up with: "No you don't, they'll eat you!" Drew turned around and said: "Nooo, Dr. Eric will save me." It's fun to see them thinking about things even if they are silly things.

Movers & shakers

So, it's official . . . Madison is crawling! I have mixed emotions.
It's exciting to see her moving and getting to what she wants
(read getting to me) but now I have to make sure
things are picked up and that doors are closed
and all the other things that come with crawling.
We're excited to see her growing and becoming a toddler.
I am going to miss having a baby, although I will NOT miss the
sleep deprivation that comes with it.
Let's not lie, she still keeps us up to all hours of the night.
I am looking forward to the day she goes to bed at a normal hour.
I think I might throw a party when it happens, or maybe
I'll just go to bed!

Bath, bath and spaghetti

All the kids can take a bath together!! It's saves so much time. They looked so cute sitting like this I couldn't help but take a picture. Madison loves playing with the rag and watching Alexis and Drew play with theirs. And when she starts giggling the other two keep going to make sure she doesn't stop.

Alexis was taking her own bath when I heard two little people giggling and having fun. When I went in to see what was going on, I found Drew had taken off his bottoms but couldn't get his shirt off so he got in with it on. He thought he was so clever.

Drew was in the bath and he kept grabbing his little man part, so I asked if he had to pee. Of course he didn't, or so he said. I took Alexis out and as I was drying her and helping her get dressed I heard the sound that no parent wants to hear. . . doing toilet things in a bathtub. Luckily it was only pee. When I asked him if he peed in the tub he told me no, when I asked if he was lying, he told me no. When I asked if he was telling me the truth he told me yes. As I turned around to finish what I was doing he pipes up and says: "I didn't pee in the bath I peed in here." In here is the silver thing on the tub with a hole in it so you don't flood everywhere. I guess it has more than one use!

Since we're on the topic of Drew's peeing habits, I potty trained him sitting down so that he wouldn't pee all over my floor. Smart idea huh? Too bad someone let him know he can stand and pee. I heard peeing the other day and went to investigate since it didn't sound normal. He had lifted the lid on the toilet and was standing on his tip toes with his little package propped up on the rim, peeing. I would've taken a picture but I think that's considered child porn now. I think it's hilarious though.

Madison is eating solid food, obviously, and she loves to eat spaghetti, just like the other two. She has loved feeding herself and I have loved trying to get the stains out of her clothes!

If crawling backwards counts as crawling, then Madison is a crawler. If not, then we're so close. She took one "step" crawling forward today and then began going backwards again. I'm not sure if I'm excited or if I'm worried, maybe a little bit of both!

Alexis found the camera and even though she's not supposed to touch it, she does anyway. (No surprise there.) This was the longest one that she took, all the others were about a nanosecond long.