Sunshine!

We took full advantage last week of the beautiful sunny weather! I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was! Taylor kept informing us though that it would be even better if it was "warm sun". We spent a lot of time outside- visiting one of our favorite parks in the neighborhood, shooting hoops, riding bikes and scooters and trips to the marina. When Taylor turned 3 Dave and I bought her a bike for her birthday so we were thinking that we would do the same for Maddie when she turned 3. We asked her before her birthday if she might like a bike and she looked at us like we were crazy and told us no! Well, now it's getting nice, she is watching Taylor ride her bike all over the neighborhood and she has changed her mind. Being the fabulous parents we are...we went and bought her a new bike. She loves it and isn't too bad at it for just starting out! The highlight for her is that it has a bell (I think this is so great because Taylor's bike doesn't have one!).

Maddie and her new bike!

Taylor and Maddie enjoying the sunshine!

Maddie went in for her 3 year appointment on Friday. She did a great job! In the car she told Taylor and I that she wasn't going to cry when she got her shots and she did a good job of sticking to her word. Her first shot didn't seem to hurt but the second one was lower down on her arm and you could tell it hurt like crazy. She got tears in her eyes but wouldn't let out the full wail. Poor baby! She did everything the Dr. asked of her except for hopping on her feet like a bunny? No idea why she wouldn't do it but she got it into her head that it just wasn't happening! Silly girl! She weighed in at 41lbs and is 45 inches tall....





Hope everyone is having a great week!

No More Excuses....

I had to share my new crafting area that I got for my birthday! Dave spent the majority of his Sunday a few weeks back putting all this stuff together for me and I just got around to going through all my stuff tonight. I was able to weed out a lot of unneeded things and I now know where everything is! I am hoping that I am going to be able to actually spend some time now getting back into scrap booking and making cards. It has been way too long! Just had to share my new "toy"!

Basketball Hoop!

At the end of the summer Dave ordered a basketball hoop for our back yard and when it arrived we kept saying we would put it up and school started and it just didn't make it up. So, yesterday when we woke up and saw what a beautiful day it was outside Dave decided that it was the day for the new hoop to go up! Thanks to his friend Grady and his cousin Tracy, they were able to put the whole thing together in just a few short hours. The backboard itself was really heavy and they thought they might need more then three people to help but it all worked out in the end. We had fun playing PIG all afternoon! Anyone up for a game?

Dave and Grady getting everything going!

The finished product!

She shoots, she scores!

Maddie really wanted to kick the basketball instead of shoot it then gave up and went to her scooter!

Grandma Kathy's Birthday!

All 3 of the girls wore these adoreable matching outfits (thanks to Katie, Jill and Brent!) to church on Sunday!

We celebrated my mom's birthday on Sunday! We started our morning off by going to church with her. This was quite entertaining as we had one stuffed pew full of kids! There certainly wasn't a dull moment the entire time! The girls kept moving all over the place from aunt to aunt and the babies were busy visiting with everyone! We came back to my mom's house to a smoke filled home- Dave had been cooking a yummy egg casserole for brunch and it had spilled all over the bottom of the oven. When he went to turn the oven up to cook the hashbrown patties it got quite smoky! All the food still tasted delicious and we all enjoyed visiting with one another (all 3 of the girls were actually very good during our brunch- a rare treat!). In the late afternoon while Emilie napped my mom, Darci, the girls and I walked to the local park. The sun was out but it certainly didn't feel like spring! The girls had a blast though and we are all looking forward to more trips to the park as winter begins to leave. When we got back home, mom wanted to play Scrabble (her favorite) so we all sat down to do that. Paul ended up beating all of us! We ended our very fun day by going to my grandma's for a party in honor of my mom.


Taylor loves this swing!

Maddie couldn't believe her hair was "sticking up" every time she went down the slide!

Taylor

Maddie

I will leave you with some pictures that Taylor took at the family party for my mom. I thought these were funny! I think it might be time to get her her own kid camera!

Valentine's Day

We had such a great Valentine's Day this year! The girls were so much fun to watch- they got so excited sharing Valentine's with their friends at Daycare. Taylor had to show us each card that she received and who each one was from. It was quite cute! Maddie was just ecstatic to receive so much candy :)

On Valentine's Day we headed up North for the weekend. For Christmas the girls had received a gift card to build a bear from their Grandpa and Grandma Myers so, along with my mom, they took the 4 youngest grand kids to the mall to pick out a bear! 3 hours later they were back- the kids were thrilled and the grandparents were exhausted! The girls had a blast and they are still toting around their new bears all over town! While the kids were gone, Amy and I got to go and have massages which were heavenly! We all enjoyed a yummy lasagna dinner together and had an all around great time!

All the kids with their new animals!

Maddie girl and her new kitty named "Sella"



Taylor and her new bear who originally was named "Trella" but is now "Hannah OnTana"

We headed to my mom's house around 9 and she kept the kids with her and Dave and I headed over to Jill and Mike's house where we got to hang out with the cousin's! It was a blast! We played Cranium (you should see how Mike makes a volcano with no words- top notch!), Wii tennis and then some darts! All in all a fun day!

Basketball....

Dave has been very busy supervising basketball games this past month. The girls have also taken a liking to the sport- but not to watch the games- to see the cheerleaders! They have been very busy collecting different pom poms from the high schools they have been going to and have been busy learning new moves from Katie and Jill as well as making up their own. You can only imagine the heartbreak this brings Dave and I.....:) We were feeling encouraged when Taylor selected a girl front he Yelm team that was her "favorite" number 22....there is still hope! I finally tagged along for a game and snapped a few (dark) pictures of our adventure.

Taylor and Dave went out to the court before the game to give high fives to the starters!

Taylor and Maddie getting to meet the head cheerleader! Notice how shy Taylor is??

Taylor and Maddie with all the cheerleaders! So EXCITING!! I should mention here, that right after this Taylor cried all the way home because she wanted to go to the cheerleader's houses and didn't understand why she couldn't!

Maddie Girl is 3!

Maddie girl turned 3 today! I can't believe that my baby is getting so old! I look at her in utter amazement! She has a laugh that can make anyone smile, a heart full of gold and is one of the best huggers on this earth! What a blessing she is to us!

We had the entire family at our house last night! Some of the family hadn't seen the house yet so it was fun watching them look around the new house. I think that they liked it! Maddie requested homemade pizza for her birthday dinner. I made pizza dough from my bread machine the day before her party- let's just say it was delicious but probably not that ideal for a group of 40! I was up until midnight making the dough :) In between dough making my mom and I were cleaning, making drums for her kid party and making 2 batches of chocolate chip cookies! Maddie had a wonderful night and was entirely too cute opening her presents from everyone. What a gracious little girl! The girls ended up crashing around 10:30 and we have been paying for it today! Dave and I are looking forward to the 7:00 mark so the girls can hit the hay! After the girls went to bed all the cousins ended up staying way into the night talking and playing the Wii! What fun! Thank you to everyone who came to Olympia to help Maddie celebrate her big day!

Maddie enjoying her pizza!

Maddie and John

Maddie loves her new toy!

Today we had a nice birthday breakfast and then got ready for Maddie's Music party. The party was very low key with drum making and exploring different musical instruments. Most of the kids just wanted to play in the playroom which was great! The other mom's and I enjoyed some visiting time :) Maddie is exhausted but told me tonight as she was taking her tub that she had a great birthday!

Making drums at the party!

Maddie making her drum!

A band party!

Yummy! Cake and ice cream!

My Birthday!

It's official...I am now 33! Yikes, time sure does fly by! A husband, 2 kids and reading glasses! All kidding aside, I had a really nice day. We celebrated on the weekend with my mom who as usual, spoiled me rotten! She made me my favorite dinner (prawns and fettuccine) and then on Monday made dinner again, cleaned the house for me and made an angel food cake with the girls for my birthday the following day. On my actual birthday the girls had gymnastics so we went to that and then picked up Chinese food on the way home. YUM! We had a quiet (if you can call an evening in our house that??) night together. The girls got me two new pairs of Crocs- one pair for the spring, the other pair for now (they are the new fuzzy ones) and a Brad Paisley CD (Dave and I are going to his concert at the end of this month with some friends!). I have been thoroughly enjoying my new Wii as well! I feel so lucky and blessed to have such wonderful family and friends!