"March Madness!"

This post is not about Basketball. No, "March Madness" at our house this month was just that, Madness! It felt like everyday this month we had something going on. Whether is was a doctor's appointment, dental appointment, celebration, service project, young women and young men activities, meetings, church lessons, dance lessons, singing lessons, family outings, date nights, house projects, and school. The list is endless. Here are pictures from our "March Madness"...

Poor Madisen had to get two teeth pulled. She did great though!

Helping out at the temple grounds and stake center. We had to remove all the covers off the flowers and pull out all the staples out of the ground.

Our ward volunteers

Madisen and Avery started music/singing lessons beginning of February and they love it so far. It's every Tuesday for 45 minutes. They are in different classes and are learning how to sing all kinds of songs. And they are being taught notes and cords too. They perform twice a year. So in May they will have their first recital! We are really excited for them and their love for music. 

They have also been taking dance lessons again. We tried dance in Texas and it didn't go so well, but here, they are liking it much more. Dance started back in October and Madisen and Avery switch every other week for an hour and learn different dance techniques that are taught by 2 friends of mine, for free! So grateful to these friends for giving freely of their time and talent to help teach my girls and many other young girls how to dance.

Hugs and snacks after class.

Melanie, their music teacher.

 The girls both have snacks in their mouths!

My parents came over from Pocatello and my dad put his invention, "Monkey Bars" in our garage. It looks so good and we have everything up and off the floor! It's clean and organized! Thanks so much Dad for all your work! We love it!

Ryan showing off his mad skills with the drill

Before

Crazy, dirty, unorganized

After!

Looks awesome!

 I love the food storage shelves on the back wall and also the bench by the back door to be able to sit down and put on shoes. 

Ryan's work space

Everything stored in it's proper place. Thanks again Dad! And my honey did a great job too!

I have also been working on a project this month, and hope to finish it soon. My best friend, Kimberly took apart her wedding dress and turned it into a baptism dress for her little girl, and I got this brilliant idea to do the same thing this year. However, my friend Kimberly is a great sewer and has made many wonderful things with a sewing machine. I, on the other hand, can count on one hand how many times I have used a sewing machine. So I was in for a rude awakening!  But I really wanted to do it. And even though I got a few doubts from some, I have managed to do just that. I took apart my wedding dress and made it into a dress for my girls to wear when they get baptized. It's not quite done yet, but I will show what I have got done so far.

It still needs to be hemmed at the bottom and the netting -is that what it's called? -needs to be cut down a lot. 

I cut down each piece and then sewed them back together. I didn't use a pattern-which I probably should have as one side is just slightly bigger then the other. The sleeves were a nightmare, but they came together ok and almost match on both sides. Just don't look too closely. :)

This is the back. I still need to sew the zipper to the other side. And I need to "gather" it more on the one side.

I have a month till Madisen gets baptized so that should give me a little bit of time to finish it.

Since Madisen is turning 8 soon she wanted to get her ears pierced. 

All smiles before getting them pierced...

And all smiles after getting them pierced! She was really brave!

Showing off her earrings she picked out.

We let her pick out more earrings after.

Madisen learned how to ride a bike last summer, but wasn't comfortable riding her bike very much.  We decided to give it another try after getting her ears pierced and she took off on her first try. I guess growing almost 3 inches this year has helped her feel more comfortable on it. Now she has been riding her bike non-stop up and down our street everyday since!

Good job Madisen! Way to keep trying and not give up! She has been growing leaps and bounds lately!

We are very proud of Emily and Avery too. Emily is really trying to learn how to write her name. And Avery's reading is really coming along. 

THAT was a very busy month!

 I hope the month of April is a little less Maddening! 

How was everyone else's, "March Madness"? 

Blog throw up...in the form of my rambling thoughts...and pictures

Emily started preschool last Thursday and she was more than excited. To be able to go to school like Avery and Madisen makes her feel so big and special. I picked her up from her first day and all she talked about was her class, her teacher, what she ate during snack time, "...we had hass-bowns, and a bagel wif ceem ceese and duce and uh, ap-pole."-translation: "We had hash browns and a bagel with cream cheese and juice and an apple." She told me who was nice and mean too: "..all the gurls were nice and the boys were mean"-"girls".  She also told me about her new friend, "...she is a gurl that is back."- "She is a girl that is black".  She went on and on about her day and kept asking when she would get to go to school again. 

Ryan decided to take her to school for her second day, so he could meet her teachers, see her classroom and see this cub-by of hers she told us about, where she gets to hang her backpack and coat. Emily was all ready to leave but Dad wasn't quite ready yet. And Emily said, "Come on Dad! Hurry! I need to go to school!"

The school she is going to is similar to Head Start Preschool, where Madisen attended preschool when we were living in Pocatello.  It's a school for kids that have challenges/disabilities and need extra help. It will help Emily with her speech and she will receive one on one speech therapy lessons for 30 minutes a day to help her articulate her words and letters better. Emily scored above average on most tests, except for speech, which qualified her for getting free preschool and speech therapy through the state. What a blessing it is for us and Emily. She will attend school Monday thru Friday from 8:30 to noon everyday. I thought that would be too much for Emily, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Emily is ready for this new adventure and the smile that radiates on her cute little face just makes my heart melt. She is very determined and independent. And if she is going to do something she will do it and do it well, too.

Emily's forced smile.

I kept trying to tickle her so I would get her natural smile on camera not her forced smile...

s 

apparently, she didn't like being tickled. 

She gets to ride the bus to and from school everyday .

First time on a school bus.

After she got home, I asked her if she liked riding the bus.

 She said, "Yep! And I did it, all -by- myself!"

 The bus lady, Sherry, putting on Emily's seat belt. Emily waved at us and I tried catching it on camera, but no...

My camera is not equipped to take pictures when I want it to. It's always about 5 seconds too late. ;(

Driving away! Bye Button!

She is growing up WAY to fast. And I am having a lot of mixed feelings. What I can't get passed is this image, although it has faded with time, of this tiny, helpless baby in the incubator, hooked up to more devices and tubes than seems necessary for anyone so small. Here is my baby girl, that was born WAY too early-who doctors said she may not live, weighing just over a pound, who has gone through more physically than I have in my 30 years of life, and now she is old enough to be away from home-from me, going to school everyday?!


I am not sure if I am ready for all this. I guess it doesn't matter if I am ready or not, as it's already happening! I am excited for her though, and feel very blessed that she has this opportunity. It's just a sad/hard transition to make. Having no more babies at home to take care of! What on earth am I going to do!? A lot more time to myself! :) which in some ways will be nice, but it just makes me sad to know that that stage of life is over. I have heard many people tell me, "Just enjoy it!" Which I will, no doubt. But there's also a sadness to it, too. So just let me take a minute (or few) and mourn that stage of my life...before you tell me to enjoy it! Ok!!?  (kidding :) Because honestly, I just want hold her and cuddle her in my arms, like she is still, that tiny, helpless baby.

Same goes with my other two girls.

Just last week I told Avery, as my arms were wrapped around her, squeezing her little body against me while lying on the couch, "Why don't you stay home from Preschool from now on and we can cuddle and kiss and hug all day!? That sounds like a great idea, doesn't it!?" Then planting 10 kisses on her face while tickling her, she laughs out loud and squirms while trying to tell me as seriously as she can between outbursts, "Mom, that is NOT...lol!... a great idea! I need....lol!....to go to school to learn and be smart...lol!"

I stop tickling her and say,  "But you are smart!"

Avery looks at me and as calmly as she can, says, "I need to get smarter. So I have to go and learn more Mom." (Duh).

She is wise beyond her years, that one. They all are...because even Madisen upon hearing our conversation pipes up with interest and says, "I'll stay home from school today and cuddle and kiss and hug all day Mom!"

Haha. Funny!

Madisen knows all about a long day of school and I am sure she would love a break to be able to stay home with mom, even if it was to cuddle and kiss and hug all day. While Avery hasn't experienced a long grueling ;) day of school yet.

I honestly wish I could keep them all at home and stop this madness of growing up. Ryan and I are constantly threatening them that we are going to put a brick on their head if they keep growing on us! Of course they just laugh at us, because they think we are joking with them.

We're not.

I have already shopped around for bricks.

I now know how my parents felt as I was growing up and every parent. I wish I could take in every word they say, every look in their little faces, every movement they make and capture it all in a bottle, so I will never forget them. But the months and years have gone by since bringing each one of them home from the hospital. And when I try and recall Madisen's sweet two year old voice, or the cute funny face Avery used to pull to make us laugh, or Emily's first triumphant steps through the living room, I can't recall them with complete clarity and it makes me sad. Sad, that I can't pause time. Gosh, darn it. Why not?! ;) I wish I could bottle those moments in my bottle and savor all those moments and be able to take them out and relive them anytime I want. Those precious moments when you hear your child say, "Thank you", to their sibling for helping them open their snack wrapper. And the other one responding right back, "You're welcome." Or hear them laughing together at some random made up joke of theirs.

It's in those little moments that I wish I could pause time and just soak it all in. They are what I call, "Tearjerker" moments. So while pushing back the tears, I proudly tell them, "Thank you for treating each other so kind and for helping each other out. That makes mommy so happy. I am so proud of you both."

Like I said, they are "moments", because if you were at my house right this very moment, this would not be one of those moments I would capture in my "bottle."  Madisen: Mom! Avery is not playing with us the right way! She is being mean!"

Sigh* Oh, brother!

(("Just a minute!!"))

Maybe this new stage will be pretty good after all. ;)