All She Wants For Christmas...

Just after Thanksgiving this year I was sitting at home with the fam and it so happened that Stephanie and Claire were both taking a nap, leaving me with Logan and Madie. I usually use this quality time to wrestle with the kids or work on their tv based education by switching "Dora" to "How it's Made" or "Future Weapons". I know what your thinking, strong candidate for father of the year, right? Thought so. Anyway, we broke the mold by writing a letter to Santa. I had to explain to the kids that because santa had to pay extra taxes to fund the various governmental bail-outs this year they could only ask Santa for one special present. Madie immediately (and repeatedly) screamed, "A Baby". My first thought, she has 2000+ babies as already, Lame! Logan thought long and hard and at last firmly requested "A Toy Trash Can". A bit crazy, but at least he hasn't got one already.

Since that letter I have taken notice of just how much Madie loves her Dolls and how very motherly she is with them. It amazes me how one so young could show such mature and nurturing characteristics found in all mother's.

Like most real mothers she spends an exceptional amount of time entertaining and caring for her babies. She is often seen cuddling them or swinging them in the baby-swing.

She also feels that her babies deserve quality time in Claire's bouncer, and to my delight tries to get them to help with chores around the house, like cleaning dishes.

She is also fond of taking her baby on walks in her baby stroller to get them some fresh air.

Madeleine is particularily patient with her babies when they get fussy and need a mother's love and gentleness to calm them. But like her larger counterparts, she has a breaking point. How then does she cope with the stresses of motherhood? Perhaps some of you mothers out there will be able to relate to our little 2 year old mother of 2000+...

I submit the question to you 2 people out there who occasional check this blog, should Santa fulfill Madie's one Christmas wish this year?

All up to speed!

Sorry for the sudden need for a million posts, I have not been very diligent keeping up lately. I think it was all that turkey....it must have stayed in my system a little too long and made me sleepy!

Thanksgiving

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by! This year for Thanksgiving the whole family was in town, except for my sister-in-law Zita ( Who we missed dearly). It was so much fun to have all 11 cousins running around and all the adults playing Guitar Hero. We ate yummy food and just enjoyed each others company. Being with all of my family reminds me just how much I have to be grateful for, I am truly blessed. We were able to get a quick shot of all the kids since it's not often that we are all together. Now for the countdown to Christmas.....

I also got to go out and take some pictures of my brother Jared and his family. It was just a quick 20 minute session before we ate our turkey, but I think they turned out really cute so here is a preview for Rachel who hasn't seen them yet.

Taking pictures...

As some of you know, my husband is a photographer. Well I on occasion, take pictures as well, and I love it!! I'm not that good, and don't have any professional training, but I do it anyway (for who ever will let me). Here are some pics I took of the Bowen Family out at Woodward park. I hope they don't mind me putting some of their pics for everyone to see.....they are so cute.

Twilight....

12:00 AM November 21st.......yes, I was one of the crazy ones!! It was soo much fun! I went with My mom, sister Kasie, my friends Suzanne, Candice, Elizabeth, Misty, some of her family, and a whole bunch of other people from church. I liked the movie the first time, but wasn't quite sure if I loved it.....I did go a 2nd time and loved it!! Don't ask me what changed, I just think I knew what to expect the second time around, and the things I thought were weird the first time weren't weird at all the second time....go figure!! Here are some pics....


Just some of the midnight Twilighters waiting around for the movie to start...did I mention we had pretty decent seats?!

Suzanne and me. I told Suzanne I wanted to make shirts and she was nice enough to indulge me....I know I'm a dork, but isn't it fun to act like a teenager now and then?

Here is the back of our shirts......yes it says Edward Cullen bringing sexy back since 1918. It's okay to laugh, we were laughing the whole time we wore them.

AWWW....my sister and me!! Aren't we so cute!! It's so nice to have a sister in town to do things with....but reminds me how much I miss my big sis Heather!!

P.S. Another movie we were able to see over Thanksgiving was Australia. Can I just say how much I LOVED it!! It was an awesome movie and would recommend it to everyone!! I loved it so much I saw it 2 nights in a row!

It's a miracle!!

Just a quick note about how adorable and funny my 4 year old, Logan, is. So my Mom went out of town to visit my sister for 5 days and while she was gone, what do you know her computer crashed!! It would turn on, but would just run and rerun through the process of trying to start windows. I wasn't very happy because I was sure it was due to the fact that my kids play these games on it, and I'm not always the most attentive mother when Madie starts pushing a million buttons. The kids were pretty upset too because my mom had gotten some new games for them to play. Well we tried relentlessly to fix it to no avail, and I ended up having to tell my mom what happened when she got home.

Of course even still we all held out hope that we could somehow fix it on our own without the help of an expensive computer tech, and yet again we failed. We had pretty much given up hope and for some reason ended up leaving the computer on all night. Little did we know that the computer somehow fixed itself in the night during one of its start up cycles. Well when Logan woke up the next morning, he happened upon this wonderful occurrence of the computer working again, and in his most excited voice yelled......"Grandma, Grandma, the computer is fixed......it's a MIRACLE!!"

So I ask the question to you all...what really constitutes a miracle? I guess anything you want, but to my 4 year old, it is the fact that the computer is fixed!

Having fun at the zoo...

So last week Logan had a couple of days off from school and a few of our friends decided it would be fun to go to the ever exciting Chaffee Zoo. Yes it is a modest zoo, but it's cheap and lots of fun to a 4 and 2 year old. We were able to go with the Bowens and Tringalis. I didn't get that many pictures because I had decided last minute that I didn't want to lug around our big fancy camera and get really good pictures, but instead settled for my moms point and shoot camera that had little battery life left. And what do you know, the camera dies on me about an hour after we got there....oh well. The funniest part about it is that I am more comfortable using our 6 lb. professional camera than I am a little point and shoot.

It is so much fun to see my kids growing up so fast and making such good friends. I just can't believe how fast time flies, before I know it my kids will be teenagers and will be doing things like driving and dating.....SCARY!! Hopefully I will be able to enjoy each stage as they come and not rush them to grow up....as tempting as it is sometimes!

Such fascination in their eyes!! They were having so much fun looking at the animals.

The behind shot.....it was so cute to watch them peer over the fence. We adults were wishing we could be on the other side of the fence to get a shot of their faces.

Logan and Mia.....so photogenic!

Logan being goofy and cheesy for the camera.

I LOVE Madeleine's face in this picture! She was trying to get me to look at the animal she thought was "crazy".

This picture really made me laugh. First off, Madie was being stubborn and wouldn't sit next to anyone even though Mia was trying to include her. Second, Logan was taking advantage of the fact that he was one of the two boys around all the cute girls (there were two other very cute boys, but they are only 3 and 4 months old). Look at him with his arms around Brooklyn and Ella.....if he could have, I'm sure he would have grown an extra arm to put around Mia too.

Kevin's results

Okay don't laugh, but kevin is......


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

At fist I was a little confused but changed my mind after I read this...

You are talented, knowledgeable and people are drawn to you. You like a good challenge and enjoy the company of a select few, but this is because you are picky and can be set in your ways. Sometimes you over react when things don’t go well, but your intentions aregood and you’re priority is protecting the ones that you love.

This goes out to all you Twilight fans...

So the movie is coming out in 10 days, and I can't tell you how excited I am!!! I found this link and it has a little quiz on it to see which Twilight character you would be and here are my results......


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great
importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be
sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and
appreciate the kind way you always handle things.

Yes I know I am a dork, but it's fun right!!??

Get ready for a grip load of pictures....

So I have been a little lazy lately, considering I had all these cute pictures back from Halloween and never posted them!! So here they are in all their glory. I know I can get a little carried away sometimes....sorry! Just a side note, Logan was a golfer, Madie was a peacock princess, and Claire was a ladybug.


Logan Hanging out with his good friend Brooklyn at our wards Trunk or Treat party. Aren't they cute!

Claire and I after I took her cape off....she was getting really mad at it.

A glamor shot of Kevin...he was a little jealous that he couldn't be a peacock princess.

I started snapping pictures of the kids in their Halloween shirts because I just couldn't resist. You can almost see the crinkle in her nose that only shows up when she is smiling really big....I just missed it.

The Girls.....they had on matching shirts that Madeleine picked out, and cute little Halloween bows that Grandma Ryan got for them.

I'm a little biased but isn't she the cutest?!

I swear this picture is not photoshopped...yes they were all smiling at the same time, not to mention all looking right at the camera!

Trick or treating with the cousins....SO MUCH FUN!! From left to right...Madie, Donavan (who refused to wear a costume), Logan, Hannah holding Claire, Autumn, and Abby.

Claire had these really cute booties and mittens that went with the costume, but the booties kept falling off and she was just chewing the mittens.

The best part is.....he actually did want to be a golfer. He was so stinkin cute!

Madie....at the end of the night after she had rummaged through her candy and shoved several pieces in her mouth. It is the face of pure happiness!

Grandma Ryan and the kids.....yes Madie is picking candy out if her teeth.

Uncle Chris wrestling with Logan.......

and Madie.

Grandma Ryan just couldn't resist putting on the feather boa and peacock hat.......I personally think she pulls it off great!!

Grandma and Grandpa Ryan with Madie.