Christmas WipeOut

Disclaimer: no child was seriously injured. The only fatality - our large sledding tube.

This is Madison sledding down from the top of the hill. Actually it is her last run from the top. After this one J started her half way down the hill. Much better/safer/less scary for both Madison and me.

This is the oldest cousin. She, I think, learned that it was better to go down in pairs after this flip.

This is little man. He loved sledding, even after this. He flew down the hill every time, and wanted to go faster and higher.

And this is Uncle A, first (and last) attempt at sledding this hill. He hit a stick and the tube ripped. Pretty Funny.

And just for fun, and because they are so cute. Here is Austin and Madison sledding together.

Also just for fun, and because she is so cute, (and because I didn't get her crash recorded) here is the middle cousin flying down the hill from the top. She loved it.

5 commitments to myself

1. 5 posts a week. I love looking back at old posts, next year i will make a blog book.

2. 365 photo challenge - a photo a day. this will be fun! not just another thing i have to do. ( i will keep telling myself this when I start wearing out, or remember that I will appreciate them at the end of the year - j will understand this) - if when I complete this I will also turn this into a photo book.

3. my own version of project life - at the moment I can not afford the kit but I can make my own version with all the scrap stuff I have sitting in the garage.

4. one little word - still thinking about it but this year I am leaning towards appreciate. I really need to work on that. I have a good life, great kids, wonderful husband, loving sisters (and their families) and parents -  I need to learn to appreciate what I have and not think about the material things I don't/can't have.

5. a clean house - i am not good at keeping the house clean. I have no excuse. No little ones at home during the day, no work, really i have just been stuck in a rut of. Time to get out.

our first snow day

we have know all week that today it would snow. really snow. not just the light dusting we got earlier this month. the kids have been so excited. last night they checked outside several times. it was either raining or hailing, no snow. this morning we woke up to this...

Lost Souls

Only now am i finding out that this book is part of a series. I will have to go back and start at the beginning. I didn't feel lost reading this book first. It was a good book about vampires to read during the halloween season. I will be honest - it was not a favorite, but still a good book.

Happy Mail

Our baby girl has a birthday coming up
Today she got a box of presents from my sister and mom
Happy Mail...

Madison couldn't wait to open her box

...all by herself

a box of presents that her mean mom (could that be me)
wouldn't let her open today

and bubble wrap
bubble wrap is the best
here's madison squeezing with all her might

and the box...
hours of entertainment tonight
for both her and austin
she has been packed up
and shaken
and spun and spun

she is having a blast
they both are
literaly for hours
with the now empty box
(who knew)

now she is ready to be all packed up
maybe we will ship her back to
my sister and mom and dad so she can say thank you
(for the box and bubble wrap) in person

mother of the year

this morning Madison told me that she wasn't feeling well
she wanted to stay home from school.
last night she stayed up too late so i told her that she was just tired
and made her go to school.
she lasted all day, but when she came home she tried reading
her AR book to me and had to stop half way thru
her voice was gone, and she really didn't feel well
I took her temp and it was 101.7
she really was sick
I should have know better,
she loves school and would never ask to stay home
unless she really was sick.
lesson learned.

Fall Photos - lots of photos

Today Madison went for a walk in or neighborhood to take some pictures of the trees that are changing for the family back in the valley (no fall back home). So here goes..... (my favorite are the red leaves, Madison likes the red and the orange leaves)

if you scrolled thru this far here is also a little preview of
Madison's Halloween costume. She was trying it out on our
walk thru the neighborhood.

Room - Emma Donoghue



best review for this book -
"Room is a book to read
in one sitting. When it's
over you look up: the
world looks the same but
you are somehow
different and that feeling
lingers for days."
Audrey Niffenegger
author of The Time Traveler's Wife

Family Visit

since i moved 3 hours north of my entire family and J's parents, i've been lonely. i miss them. so my little sister (next in line, there are 5 of us, yes all girls, and no - not poor dad. we adore him) and her family came up to give me a weekend dose of family. it was great...

Austin and my Pixie
only i can call her Pixie
it's our special thing

my sister and Pixie's adorable twin Carebear
another nickname
but everyone calls her Carebear

Madison and Pixie
these 2 are super close
Madison mothers Pixie
Pixie loves it

my kids
their twins
and my brother in law

the girls
i hope even with the move these 3 stay close friends
nothing is better then family

Snow...

well just a dusting but for us that are native to the valley, this is snow. And man were we cold. I think it was in the high 20's this morning. Then, I worked in Madison's class this afternoon and drove home while it was snowing (not sticking). It was so cool. I called one of my sisters, I just had to share. It was a first for me.

Foot Doctor

Austin and Madison had an appointment with the foot doctor. Austin got an ingrown toenail cut out (without being numbed) and Madison went because she has flinstone flat feet and it had been suggested we have them looked at. Madison went first and did great, the doctor was funny and great with kids. He found a wart on her big toe (gross), and put acid and a band-aid on it to remove it. He also had orthotics cut for her shoes and told us she needs to were them 80 - 90% of the time and she may be out of them by the time she is 14 - 7 years, yikes. Then Austin went, this was a follow up visit for his ingrown toe nails. The first visit he was just put on antibiotics, even though the doctor offered to just cut the toe off. He guaranteed that would solve the ingrown toenail problem permanently. This time he wanted the nail cut out - even after my horror story of 9 shots in each toe just to numb them. He was tired of it hurting all the time. The doctor looked at his foot, grabbed his clippers and started cutting, I couldn't watch. I felt so bad for Austin. I know that had to really hurt. He was tough though So, Madison has a follow up in 2 weeks to check both her wart and her orthotics. Hopefully that will be the end of our visits for a while. We really like the doctor, but specialists are expensive.

these 2 had a great day together
it was so nice seeing them get along,
I let both of them stay home from school and enjoyed
watching them wrestle and play and just hang out.  

she was a little nervous - new doctor and all
Austin did really good keeping her laughing 

WART ON MY BABY - GROSS

Madison's new favorite recess activity. She is becoming a bit of a daredevil, and totally stressing me out. She wants to hang upside down like the rest of the girls. She doesn't do that when I am there but I would guess she does when I'm not there. I worry about her falling and getting really hurt, but at the same time I want her to have fun. I can just hope she is making "good decisions". (the only rule on the playground is to make good decisions, this school is all about kids being kids)

1st grade picture preview

Today is picture day. Here's a preview.
Pictures I took - not the school picture professionals
Mad had fun taking these pictures this morning

pose all hers - where does she get this stuff

there's my sweet girl

Madison thought it would be great if she could wear her
vampire teeth in her school pictures

our 1st grader

The barrette was made by my sister Angela. Madison has a few of them and she loves them. They are easy for her to put in by herself. I need to get a better picture of them, they are adorable.

A-1 Mountain Road

Our Saturday adventure was on Sunday this week. Sunday morning Madison decided she wanted to go for a drive to see if she could spot some deer. Unfortunately it was already 8am, and I've heard it best to go out before sunrise. But we thought why not, it was a good day to get out as a family.

A-1 Mountain Road
a forest road not far from where we live
we have to come back here - it's so beautiful

we pulled off the road and went exploring
so fun
such a change from summer days back in phoenix

I absolutely love wild purple flowers

we all climbed around on these rock piles for a while
don't worry J stayed close to Madison
she was never in any danger

these two are so close
they are almost always holding hands
J is her protector
Madison brings out the fun kid in him

J helping Madison down from one of the rock piles
i like how he lets her be brave - but is always there to catch her

the kids

Me and Madison
thank you Austin for taking a few pictures

another thing I love about forest roads
bumpy dirt road + no traffic = kids in back
(J is very careful, they are safe. I promise)

me and Madison
taking fun pics together

2nd stop further down the road
deep in the forest
we saw deer here - in the distance
Madison decided we were going to follow them
so we hiked up the mountain

about half way up we had to take a quick break

finally at the top
"top of the world"
we could see our whole little town

and back down
this was the fun part

my typical picture of J and Madison
they alway joke that I am taking pictures of their bottoms
actually i just love seeing them holding hands
i love Madison's choice of shoes - rain boots

J and Madison jumping down the mountain
they were having so much fun

Austin - thankfully he lets me sneek in a few pictures of him

these 2 are so done having their pictures taken
I promised them that they would be thankful for all the pictures someday