a day to say yes

Today I took Madison to the Children's Music and Art Festival.

Where are Austin and Zac?
They didn't want to come.
I guess I don't blame them.

I decided to make today a day to be completely checked in with Madison.
no cell phone, computer, TV, book, or any other distraction.
And since it was one price for the bracelet,
it was a day to say yes.
No excuses.

saying yes to all natural strawberry slushy 

saying yes to hula hooping
a bunch

saying yes to letting you play with all the toys scattered
across the park
as much and as long as you wanted
no rush



saying yes to adorable butterfly wings
not even trying to talk you into something smaller
and easier to clean off

saying yes to painting
whatever you want
no input
and I don't care that you had paint on your hands
 and in your hair
you had fun

saying yes to the piano

saying yes to the guitar

saying yes to the cute little drums

saying yes to the accordion
you loved this

oh yes,
and saying yes to the washboard

yes to jumping
lots and lots of jumping

yes to sliding
even head first

saying yes to petting
and feeding

and saying yes to playing
and prizes
over and over
until you got tired and hungry
and you were ready to move on

and finally saying yes to putting the camera away and staying to play in the rain. We had such a good day. It felt good to say yes, over and over...

New challenge for myself: Say yes to the kids more. Stop being disconnected. Remember they are only kids for such a short time and really enjoy that time with them.

inside our snowglobe

OK, so the quality of this video is not great but hopefully you can see that it is snowing.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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