Bowling Gone Wrong

The three of us went bowling tonight. It was all fun and games until Mady dropped a bowling ball on her pinky finger. It's all bruised now. :(

I don't remember what the final score was but Devon won of course. He can't just bowl for fun - it's all serious practice for his league. I'm pretty sure I lost but I had a little helper for most of the game.

Sledding

We had a nice visit from Brad, Sunny and Braden today before they went back to Chadron for the holidays. Brad and Devon took the kids out back and pulled them on the sled. Braden's goal was to get Nutmeg on the sled with them! Mady did two face plants into the snow and laughed and laughed.

It was quite cold out tho - their cheeks were very red when they came inside.

Nebraska CBRS Available - Finally!

Today is a very special day. My friend, Trish, was able to get a Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth for her son, Myles - finally. The law went into effect in April but the Department of Health and Human Services wasn't able to get all the forms and processes in place until today. I'm so happy for her and for all the work we did to get this far. You can read all about our journey to get the law passed earlier this year at: http://nemissingangels.blogspot.com

Yay!

In loving memory of Carter.

New Recipe

Tried a new recipe tonight that I found online on a bulletin board. It was very easy and Mady really liked it (that's always key).

Confetti Casserole
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can milk
1 pkg of cream cheese (I only used 6-7 oz.)
frozen corn (however much you like.
2 cups cooked elbow macaroni

Brown beef, onion and garlic; drain. Add soup, milk and cheese. Stir until cheese is melted and smooth. Add corn. Heat through. Stir in cooked pasta.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Today Mady and I made a Rudolph craft out of a paper sack. I traced her hands for the ears and a shoe for the head. She helped glue it together and color it. She's very proud of her creation!

Lights All A Glow

Devon got the Christmas lights put up today. He borrowed a ladder from a neighbor to get the lights up on the top of our two story house. I stayed inside where it was warm and was teasing him to be careful and not fall off the roof. A few minutes later, Mady came looking for a rope. Apparently she couldn't find one so she made one out of beads (see photo). I asked her what the rope was for and she said it was for Daddy to catch him when he falls off the roof! Haha. She's such a smartie.

The lights look good - this is the first year we've done lights outside on this house. Mady's face when the lights were turned on was priceless! A couple sets of the lights are blinkers and when they went off for a moment she said "Uh-oh! Broken!"

A Special Christmas Message from Mady!

The Tooth Fairy Came Early

Mady lost her first tooth! AH! Yes, I know she is only 2. On Sunday, we woke up and she kept saying "Bump, bump" and pointing at her mouth so I took a peek in and WOW, her bottom front tooth was really loose. So I ran around like a crazy person freaking out trying to figure out what to do. It was Sunday and she didn't have a dentist yet (Again, she's only 2!) so I called our pediatrician emergency line and one of the nurses called me back. She advised that I take her to an Emergency Dental place or Urgent Care and have them look at it. They are worried with kids this age that they'll swallow it and choke on the tooth.

Devon called an Emergency Dental place and they said they could pull it but they don't have x-ray machines for a 2 year old so that's all they could do for us. I wanted a dentist to look at it and see if they could save it and an urgent care place would probably just pull it too so I just watched her and woke up all night every hour making sure she wasn't choking on it and was still breathing.

Monday morning first thing I called around and was looking for a dentist for her to get in to. While I was on the phone, she must've lost the tooth. I was taking her upstairs to get dressed and she was talking to me and I *GASPED* noticed her tooth was gone. We ran back downstairs and looked all over for it but no luck. I bet she swallowed it. :(

Thanks to my friend DeAnn, we already had a tooth fairy pillow so we put that out and the fairy found it. Mady came running to me the next morning and said, "Mommy, look! Monies!" She's been carrying the pillow around (with money still in the pocket) ever since.

So, it was no longer an emergency so she had her first dentist appointment today. After lots of explaining what everything in the dentist's office was (light, dentist tools, etc.) and showing her the tv on the ceiling turned to her favorite cartoons, there was still some blood curdling screaming involved when they went to do the x-ray. She didn't think it was so bad, however, when getting to pick out her prize (playdoh) for being "good."

Luckily, I found out I am not a bad mother and didn't let her eat too much candy already in life. She got her first two bottom teeth at 2.5 months old. The dentist said that when they get their teeth that early, they hardly have any root to them (he showed me this on the x-ray.) So if they barely get bumped, they can come loose and fall out. Turns out she bumped it last week on some kids' head - but it wasn't that loose then. But nothing to worry about, just sad that her tooth is gone!

Almost Halloween

Tonight we carved our pumpkins finally. It was Mady's first time. She liked pulling out the goo. Devon did a really fancy job on his pumpkin that has the Cheesecake Factory logo on it. It looks pretty cool. Nice job honey!

Some People...

I cannot even believe they posted this crap on the homepage of MSN, even temporarily:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27197571/?gt1=43001

How stupid is that? What a freakin' whiner. I have no sympathy for that woman. If you get a healthy baby, you're lucky. This woman got two healthy babies! Don't complain cause you didn't get a girl. You don't choose what you get!

And the advice from the doctor/writer about having a mock funeral for the daughter you never had is ridiculous. Just a slap in the face for those who have had a real one.

Then she writes that she wanted the baby to die when they found out their second baby was a boy as well. That woman needs to go in a mental hospital.

Some people are totally clueless - and should be glad that they are.

Names in the Sand

There's this family in Australia that has a memorial website (thanks Trish for the tip.) - they write the names in the sand and take a picture of it for you. They wrote Carter's name in the sand today. It's gorgeous and I will cherish it always.

Adventures in Chicago: Lesson #5: I Love You, JOEY!

The title of this post is for you, Tish.

What can I say? New Kids on the Block still have my heart.

After our new friend, Bobby, the weird guy at the hotel (there for his brother's wedding), took our picture and got a cab for us, we arrived at the Allstate Arena, psyched for our first ever NKOTB concert. (Well it was my first real concert ever and I don't need to go to another after it - it surely won't be as good.)

Natasha Beddingfield was the opener and she can sounded good live. (You know how some people just don't sound the same?) I love her New Zealand/British accent.

The boys (now grown men) put on an awesome show. I couldn't have imagined better. Jordan and Joey can still hit all the high notes. But there is still just something about that bad boy Donnie! (Hence my new "Property of Donnie Wahlberg" t-shirt.)

We had so much fun singing and screaming. I hardly have a voice. The atmosphere was so incredible. So many fans (97% female), around our age, mature enough to not be annoying like little teenage girls would be, all eager to hear their boy band from their early youth. So fun! Here is a picture of us glowing after the concert (this was before our mile walk to the hotel obviously. Haha.)

It was a dream come true!

Adventures in Chicago: Lesson #4: Wear Good Walking Shoes for Shopping on Michigan Ave

We took the El train into downtown just to say that we rode it (It is on ER after all.) Some odd ducks on the train...

We started our full day of shopping at the bottom of Michigan Avenue. The first good store we got to was Forever 21/XXI Forever. Some thoughts about the stores on the Magnificent Mile: HUGE, GINORMOUS, OVERWHELMING. I recommend going on a Monday/Tuesday and not on a weekend. It takes 10-15 minutes during the mid-day weekend rush just to stand in line to try on clothes and then you have to wait another 10 minutes or so to check out. Speed shopping is NOT possible. Do NOT attempt!

If you have a daughter, I highly recommend the American Girl Place. So freakin' cute. The girls can bring their American Girl dolls to get their hair done, go to the doctor, eat lunch at the cafe with them, etc. The entire place is red and pink, even the bathrooms have toilets and sinks that are kid sized. So adorable!

By the end of the afternoon, we were shopped out. H&M was our last shopping stop and none of us bought a thing!

We did get to do one touristy activity by going to the top of the John Hancock Observatory to get a view of the city (see pic). We got our picture taken with Sears Tower in the background. It was a nice clear day. Now... on to the CONCERT!!!

Adventures in Chicago: Lesson #3: Don't Lock Your Keys in the Car!

So by this point, you're probably wondering where Tish is during all this. She originally was supposed to take a later flight around 7pm from Omaha to Chicago because she had to work during the day. Around 6pm, I received a call from her saying she was lost and couldn't find her way to the airport. Obviously she was running a bit late as well and was worried about missing her flight.

Poor Tish. She has bad luck! She made it to the airport and parked and then somehow locked her keys in her car! Devon to the rescue - he drove to the airport, got her keys out and car unlocked and helped her work with the ticket counter to get her on standby for an early morning flight Saturday.

I hope it is something that she can now laugh about. But it sure wasn't funny at the time!

Adventures in Chicago: Lesson #2: Don't Miss Gino's East Pizza

After our late arrival in Chicago, the three of us caught a cab to downtown Chicago specifically to get Tiff some jeans so she had something to wear on Saturday. Our cab driver was fun - everyone honks at each other and he was trying to do something so he said "Don't beep me." at one point.

On the way into town, we asked him to tell us about the tall buildings. I pointed to the Sears Tower and asked which one that was. He said, "That one is my house." Me "Can I have a tour?" haha He said "I'll have to make sure my wife isn't home first." EW - not that kind of tour, buddy.

We then went to Gino's East for the best pizza in the world. The sauce is on top. The crust is all flaky, thick and crispy on the bottom (all at the same time). What more could you ask for? We felt bad throwing half of it away - we ordered way too much!

During dinner we were chatting about where we would eat on Saturday prior to the concert. I said we can't eat something too greasy or heavy (like the pizza we just had) before going to the concert. I didn't want to be all bloated for NKOTB! Tiff said, "Donnie, rub my belly!" So that is our continued joke from the weekend.

Adventures in Chicago: Lesson #1: Don't Laugh at Airport Security

The title of this post is kind of misleading because it's mostly in Omaha but our adventure begins there... we were off to the Windy City of Chicago for the weekend, ultimately for the New Kids on the Block concert on Saturday. Tiffany and Chelsey drove down Thursday night so they could fly out of Omaha with me (cheap tickets). We arrived at the Omaha airport around 10:30 a.m. Going through security, Tiffany got randomly selected to be patted down. I turned around from getting my stuff off the conveyor belt thing and started laughing at her. It was just funny to see her in the enclosed glass area.

The security guard said to me, "Are you laughing at her? We don't make fun of people! Get in here!"

Haha. So I got patted down too.

Then, the other security guard saw Chelsey gathering her things and said, "Don't laugh. Don't laugh." Chelsey giggled. "We've got a laugher!"

Needless to say, all three of us were in the glass security area at that point. We have the best picture of us with our arms out with the security guard. I will post it here as soon as my sisters send it to me. Started the trip off right.

Then... it went downhill temporarily. Our flight was cancelled due to a mechanical problem. So they sent us back downstairs to the counters and rerouted us through Southwest airlines on a later flight. People were so grumpy! (except us - we somehow kept our giddyness the whole day.)
Arrival time in Chicago: 5:00 pm

Oh What a Beautiful Morning

Today, I woke up before Mady did. I stole a few moments just to watch her sleep. After a couple of minutes, she must have sensed that I was awake. She opened her bright eyes and looked at me. She leaned forward just a bit towards me and said, "Boo!"

It's a great day when you start it off with a laugh!

Happy 4th of July

We are having an exciting 4th of July day here in Omaha. Mady rode her trike this morning. She is starting to learn how to pedal! Then we went to the backyard and drew with chalk on the concrete patio area. We also played with bubbles.

Then while I was making pasta salad, Mady turned around from her cute pink chair and had a black face! She had drawn all over her face with a black crayon. Luckily, crayon is easy to clean up.

Later we will be going to a fireworks show.

Happy 4th of July!

Inflatables

Tonight the Stonebridge Church held a big fest with food vendors, blow up inflatables for the kids, firetruck tours, and a fireworks display when it got dark. Mady's favorite part was the snow-cones. I picked out an orange one and a grape one for her and she took a sip of one, then the other.

She wouldn't go into the blow up inflatable that you bounce in - it was for kids her age and she wouldn't go in even tho I told her it looked like a princess castle. Devon took her down the slide and I think she thought that was okay.

She doesn't like fireworks - but her Daddy protects her. She sat on his lap and said "scare me".

Crazy Weather

This afternoon a storm came through very quickly. They were reporting hail and 80 mph winds and so they turned the tornado sirens on to warn everyone. The electricity went out for more than 100,000 people. Luckily, our lights just flickered and the electricity stayed on. We drove around after the storm to look at the damage and it was not a good day for fences or trampolines!

Our plants in the front yard that we planted just weeks ago are destroyed. Plants in the back are okay. Mady's tent on her swingset has a hole in it now. We were lucky, some neighborhoods looked a lot worse.

Balloon Pop Car

Today we went to Mahoney State Park and had a picnic and then went to the Aquatic Center and swam. Mady is getting to be a good "swimmer". She likes the wave pool that they have. She can almost float on her back and is starting to swim a little bit.

Her language is really developing. This morning when I went to make her usual Fruity Pebbles for breakfast (she will not touch pancakes, waffles or anything else I make her.) she said "Don't want that kind - I want Einsteins." As in Little Einsteins cereal we had a month or so ago. She said those two complete sentences as plain as day. I've tried to find that kind of cereal at the store again and apparently they've stopped making it - so I reminded her. Her response was "Oh."

Tonight we were driving home from the restaurant we ate at for dinner and the balloon she had received at the restaurant popped. She cried briefly but then she repeated the story when we got home about 100 times - "Balloon" "Pop" "Car" "Broke It" "Balloon" "Pop" "Car" "Broke It". Toddlers have a one track mind.

She's too cute.

Scary Animal Play-Doh Things

I bought Mady this super-cute craft box: My Giant Busy Box from this toy store down the road from our house. It has paper bag puppets, sticker art, crayons, dough, tissue paper art, etc. One of the tissue paper art projects in the box was defective (i.e. not sticky) so I wrote to the company that made it to request a new one. They said they couldn't just provide me with the part that was broken - they sent a whole new box for us to play with! How nice is that? I highly recommend it - it's for ages 2+ (and I'm not just saying that because they gave us free stuff).

Mady really likes the E-I-E-I Dough projects. They provide printed punch-out animal parts and different colors of dough and you can make/decorate the animals. Here she has made a pig-dog (pig head with dog legs, I think there is a horse part mixed in there too.)

That Darn Chicken...

There is this goofy toy that my sisters and I pass around. When you press its hand, it plays the chicken dance (see video for demo - make sure you have your sound on for the full effect). We hide it in car trunks, suitcases, bedrooms, etc. I last gave the chicken to Chelsey to open as a present during her graduation party (thanks to Paige for the idea!)

When I was doing my laundry the other day, I found the chicken in my clothes basket. Now, how did that get there? I will find out who put it there and will get revenge. Muhahaha...

P.S. it made Mady cry this morning when I played the chicken to make this video. Whoops!

I have 2 children thank you...

Someday... when people tell me I only have one child, I will have the strength to correct them and say "No, I have 2 children. One who walks and one who soars." That is one of my biggest goals in life and I will get there. I will.

Bunny!

We have a family "pet" in addition to Nutmeg - a rabbit. We think it lives in a hole under our back cement patio. It's always around. In Arizona we had a gecko that lived along the stone wall in the back so it's only fitting that something has adopted our yard as it's home here as well.

Tonight during dinner, Mady was sitting with us at the table in her booster seat by the window and she spotted the bunny eating the grass right outside. She goes "Bunny!" and that was the end of her dinner that had only just begun. When the bunny hopped to the back of the yard, she ran over to the patio door (which she can now get open by herself) and yelled into the yard "Where Bunny go?"

Now every time she looks out the window she asks about the bunny (which sounds like Barney so I always get confused. :P)

Hopefully it won't eat Devon's vegetables that he planted (I'm sure it will and we'll have to get a bunny barrier!)

Mady and Abby's Big Birthday Bash

Today was Mady's 2nd birthday. See my previous post for the theme of Abby Cadabby. There were 12 people at the party. Lots of presents and fun. Some of the highlights included:

• No major meltdowns by Mady since she didn't take a real nap the whole day. Too many new toys and people around to keep her busy.
• Mady blew out the candles on her birthday cake with a party blowout during the Happy Birthday song. It was priceless.
• Good company with family and friends present.

Low points included:

• Nutmeg getting hurt. The wind outside and the garage door being open created a vacuum effect and his nose and paw got caught in the door. Sad. :(
• The top tier of the cake sliding off on the way home despite driving very slowly. Thanks to Hy-Vee for sending over a decorator to fix it. (Devon tried to fix it but he didn't have a spray gun for the icing.)

Gardening

Today we went to Mulhall's nursery and bought $250 worth of plants for the yard. Devon cut down the tree/bush thing in our front yard flower bed area. Seems like we always get stuck with the ugly tree/bush things in our front yard (our house in Phoenix used to have an ugly tree/bush thing as well). Guess the people that owned the houses before us didn't have very good taste in plants. I cleaned up the purple flowering plants along the house and planted some annuals even though Devon thinks they are a waste because they won't come back next year.

Devon planted some rose shrubs in the back. He also planted some peppers and tomatoes in the back.

Mady was a good helper and watered the plants. I also found a nightcrawler and she held it in her hand and giggled.

We learned a lot about plants today that's for sure! I do not have a green thumb but my Dad says anything will grow down here with the humidity. We'll see about that!

Sweet Spot

Devon went mushroom hunting on Saturday and found 9lbs of morels! We were all laughing at him because he got lost for 2 hours and couldn't find the car.

Today he went out to the same spot and found out that the land he has been hunting on is private property. Whoops! LOL! He took the family a cheesecake tonight to apologize.

Before he found that out, he gathered more mushrooms shown in this picture. They are getting larger.

The Tassle's Worth the Hassle!

Chelsey's graduation was today. Gosh I feel old! You know those slideshows they play at graduation? Some of the kids in her class I recognize better by their baby pictures than by seeing them in person. A lot of them would come to the pool where I was lifeguarding and I'd teach them swimming lessons. Exactly 11 years ago today was my high school graduation - crazy!

Odd day for a graduation - there were some huge snowflakes coming down! "The size of baseballs," said Dane.

The after graduation party was a hit. Chelsey helped the kids break open the pinata. Josh's friend brought margaritas - then the party started!

Mady's having a blast with Paige. She follows her around everywhere. Now Paige has a "mini me".

Mushroom Hunting is like...

Sniper hunting - so Devon said at first. Finally starting to find some though. He found 18 of them. Here is the first photo.

Fearless

Mady is turning out to be a pretty brave little girl. We walked up the hill to the park today and were playing on the small slide and going across the bridge on the swingset. She then decided to go down the "big" kids twisty slide instead. It's really pretty tall so I was surprised when she sat right down and zipped down the curves and laughed when she got to the bottom. "'Gain (again)," she said.

Devon said she will be fearless!

On another note, she barely took a nap today (just in the car on the way to lunch at the CCF). I tried to get her to take a longer nap but I think I was the only one that fell asleep for a few minutes. The end result - her falling asleep in her highchair after dinner. Aw...

Ever Ever After

Mady and I just had the most fun ever! First we fingerpainted - her very first time. It was a progressive thing. She used one finger first, then two, then finally, the moment I was waiting for, her whole hand to spread around the paint. Then, Mady got out her bubble-maker and we danced in the bubbles like crazy people to the Enchanted soundtrack. What a magical time! I will remember her face laughing at me in the bubbles forever!

Now we are watching Caillou "on demand" and she is getting mad at it when the muppets come on instead of the cartoon. Haha.

Gone Fishin'

Today, Mady and Devon went fishing at Two Rivers. Devon bought Mady a fishing pole with Dora the Explorer on it. They caught their limit of four trout within the first hour so I will say that was a successful fishing trip! I'm sure Mady was tickled getting to see the fish.

On the other hand, later this afternoon they went mushroom hunting. They didn't find any. I'm hoping Devon finds some next week when the weather warms up so we can fry them up. Yum-yum! Good luck honey!

Mady's Birthday Theme

So I asked Mady what kind of party she wanted for her birthday. She flat out said "Abby" (as in Abby Cadabby off Sesame Street). So - Abby it is! Although, I think I will try to do a combination of Abby/Elmo so Noah doesn't feel left out with all the girlie decor!

Omaha Spring Craft Show

Today, Tish, Noah and I went to the Spring Festival craft show at the Qwest Center in Omaha. We found lots of treasures. We bought Mady and Noah cute backpacks with their names on them. We got some smelly soap and salts. I purchased a wall frame that says “Life Isn’t About Waiting for the Storm to Pass… It’s About Learning to Dance in the Rain!” We also got some nifty magnets. It was a fun day! We can’t wait til the fall when the craft show comes back and we can spend more money. Ha!

P.S. Noah was a very good baby.

Snoring

Last night, Devon went out with Brad partying. Today he’s tired of course. He fell asleep in the chair while Mady and I were playing. He snored. Mady looked at me and said, “Going *snort*” and she really snorted there.

Guess it’s funnier if you could hear it but I thought it was the cutest thing!

Mady is All Grown Up

We purchased a big girl bed for Miss Madylan. I am kinda sad about it since that means she is getting older. But it had to happen. She can’t sleep with us forever. It’s not like she’s slept in her crib for the past year anyway. Ha!