Music Time

These are really old. It takes me awhile to post anymore. Oh, you noticed?

We have greatly expanded our kid music collection this year. Madoc in particular loves to listen to his favorite songs. This particular day he spent all morning sitting next to my stereo on the counter, switching out cds and searching for the best songs.

One morning he asked for the gorilla song. I had no idea what he was talking about and I was looking through all the cds for any song that resembled a gorilla song. We even listened to the first 10 seconds of every Beatles song on one cd. Finally I put on a Raffi cd and just started skipping around. Finally Madoc said I had found it. Apparently "et les loups-garous" (and the werewolves) sounds like a gorilla song to a little boy.

And here we have some dancing. These were taken at the same time as Charlotte sitting on the table eating apples.

Quality of Life

"Can I have some parmesan cheese on my spaghetti?"

"I'm sorry Sadie, we don't have any.  I'm sorry I've been sick and haven't been to the grocery store.  I'm sorry I'm ruining everybody's lives."

"You aren't ruining our lives; you're just making them very disappointing."

Breakfast Is A Three Course Meal

"Madoc, do you want Rice Krispies for breakfast?"

(nods head) "Can I have sticky Cheerios too?"

"Yes you can.  What do you want first?"

"Life."

Time...

"Madoc, please go into the bathroom and go potty"

"I don't need to go."

"Madoc, please go potty."

"I don't need to go, I went before my bath."

"Madoc, that was a long time ago."

"It wasn't a long time ago; it was today!"

Baking with Madoc

Last month Madoc helped me make graham crackers for a surprise for Sadie. We tried a new recipe from my cousin. I liked it better than my recipe because it didn't call for shortening. Madoc had a good time with the cookie cutters. He and I thought they were pretty tasty but Sadie didn't care for them. Apparently she no longer likes graham crackers.

Hide n Seek

Remember when we posted about how we rearranged the furniture so that Charlotte can't escape the family room? Well, one day Neil put Charlotte in there while he was cleaning the kitchen. Later he heard her whining and cranky and went to get her. But he couldn't see her anywhere - just hear her. He finally realized that she had climbed into the bottom of the armoire and couldn't get back out. Now she climbs right in whenever we leave the door open. And the big kids have started to join her.

The Stinky, Nasty Formula is Back

We finally had to give up nursing Charlotte and she's exclusively on bottles now. I hate formula but at least we know that if she's not eating it's her own fault. At her nine month appointment she weighed 13 pounds 12 ounces. She's so tiny and it's no wonder. We can hardly ever get her to finish a 4 oz bottle!

A Tiny Baseball Fan

Neil needed proof that Cardinals paraphernalia could look good in pink. He called, asking for a picture, just as I had got Charlotte dressed for the day and was putting her down for a nap. She was not at all happy about changing or posing for pictures. This was the best I got. 

Services Rendered

A friend from school needed some flower girl dresses made at the last minute. I was able to help her out. They turned out cute, although not as perfect as I'd like. I didn't have much to work with though so it turned out pretty good I'd say. I made the dresses without seeing the little girls they were going to fit and we were modifying the pattern too. But they're done! Yay!

Apples and Charlotte

For my mother, who called just to tell me that I needed to post on my blog. I didn't have anything to post about so I took some pictures of ordinary stuff yesterday. Here we go.

I was eating apple slices yesterday morning and Charlotte was enthralled. She followed my movements with her whole head, mouth wide open and tongue hanging out. I decided to giver her a slice just to play with. She was so happy with that idea. She was especially happy once I put her up on the kitchen table to take a picture. She sat there gnawing on her apple and slowly turning in a circle as she pushed herself around with her feet. So happy.

Pictures from today

 My family room looks like this nowadays.And despite all this someone still managed to get out of her corral

and decided to help me with the dishes.

 Madoc found all the pillows in the house (minus just two) and built himself a cheetah nest.

Crayons and Pencils

Today was the first day of school. Sadie is a big 1st Grader now! Last night we went to school and met her new teacher, Mrs. Mulay. She was exactly the teacher we wanted! And we found that she had several friends with her in class.

School started a half hour earlier this year and Neil didn't know what time we needed to be up. He graciously took care of the kids and let me sleep in (which I love!) but that meant I had only half an hour to get breakfast made, lunch made, and everyone ready to get in the car. That was a crazy morning! But we made it and still had time for some pictures. They look just like last year's first day pictures - just a little older.

Madoc's Party

Madoc had his birthday in Indiana but we had a friends party once we got back. He wanted a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake, just like last year, so that set our theme. Only 2 of the 4 little boys (and siblings) we invited could come but they were our best family friends so we were alright with that.

For Sadie's art party I planned a few activities but left a lot of time for playing. That did NOT work and I had kids bugging me the whole time. So for Madoc's party we made it much shorter and I planned every minute. But when the kids got here all they wanted to do was play. So much for games and activities!

Neil grilled hot dogs and chicken and we also had chips, popcorn, and apples and strawberries. And let's not forget cake! But I did forget the ice cream. Oops. Sadie was very upset about that after the party.

Charlotte is growing a little too fast

Charlotte is a tiny, sweet thing. She'll be eight months old in a few days. While we were in Indiana a month ago she finally started eating solid foods (yay bananas!) and she pulled herself up for the first time. She had just barely started sitting on her own before we got there. But that was only the beginning. In the course of two weeks she went from completely immobile to walking around furniture. None of my babies progressed so fast. She learned to crawl quickly. It started out as a modified army crawl where she would get up on her knees every third step or so and propel herself forward. It was only a few days before she was all hands and knees. She also learned how to get back into a sitting position, pull up on anything and walk around it, and go up the stairs. I hope she doesn't want to start walking anytime soon.

 Pulling up on the coffee table

 Madoc feeding her a bottle

 Ruffle bum - the outfit was mine as a baby

Sitting in the grass out in the backyard

A quick post about the weekend

Charlotte decided to eat the laptop cord.

We have a volunteer watermelon plant in the backyard. This is one of the three watermelons off it (unfortunately they're not suitable for eating but apparently suitable to dress up).

Have you seen the pic of the kiddie car wash floating around the web? I showed it to Neil and on Saturday he made this. The water in the desert is so warm coming out of the tap that the kids just stood  under it like a shower. So much for running through the sprinklers.

We spent all day Friday at a waterpark but I wanted to just play and enjoy so I didn't take the camera. The kids loved it (it was our second time) and Charlotte lasted seven hours! What a lil' sport. Neil and I took turns on a few of the slides but we spent most of the day in the wave pool on tubes and just swimming around. The kids liked having so much shallow water to swim in. But it was kind of a problem because they would just take off (especially Madoc) and would be in the middle of the pool with no adult supervision. I think I had a heart attack about twelve times that day.

And for an update, our ward split and we are now in a NEW fifth ward for our area. Neil is the new Elders Quorum president (he has been for a month or so in the old ward) and I got released from YW and called as the new gospel doctrine instructor. I taught for the first time on Sunday and it didn't go well. And to make matters worse I was the youngest person in the room (excluding Charlotte of course).

Four steps up is a bit high

My seven and a half month old baby just climbed the stairs. Awesome.

The Fourth

We didn't do anything really picture worthy on the Fourth of July. We hit the outlet mall, went swimming, ate hamburgers and hot dogs, and the boys nearly killed themselves lighting off fireworks. We made smores before bed and Neil made this fabulous berry pie. I think it had blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries by the time he got the pie full.

Visiting folks

Our first full day in Indiana was a Sunday. We went to church and then headed out to my grandparents' farm. I always love going there to visit. Life is just simple there.

Great-grandma Shoaf and Charlotte. Charlotte is a big mama's girl and doesn't take to strangers holding her but she let Grandma hold her for a LONG time. What a good girl!

Trey and Grandpa. Grandpa was really funny that day and told lots of good stories. The best one was about a stone scraper made by Native Americans that he had. His house is full of arrow heads and the like that he has found in his fields over the years. Well an elderly gentleman offered him $1000 for this particular scraper but Grandpa wouldn't sell it. His explanation was: "I would have gone and spent the thousand dollars and then he would have my rock and I would have had nothin'!" How awesome is that?!

After a delicious pork chop dinner we took some to my dad and visited him at the fire station. We always have to stop at the fire station as Madoc demands it. Trey and Charlotte are hanging out (above) and Madoc sits in the engine (below).

The Commons

While we were at my parents' we made a stop at the Commons. It used to be an old mall and now it's being made over with office, retail, event space, etc. I grew up going to play on the Commons playground. It was recently renovated and my family hadn't seen the new one yet. Neil was very sad that they took out the old because it had such cool (ie dangerous) play equipment but he said the new one was cool too. Neil and the kids ran around for awhile and then played hide and seek. Charlotte and I just hung out on the side.

 This was a concave little dish in the toddler area. Charlotte thought it was fun to sit in and try to crawl out.

 There is a huge climbing structure now. If you've been to the Magic House in St. Louis, it's very similar to the beanstalk only much  bigger. The picture is horrible but I was too far away and couldn't get closer because I had Charlotte beside me and there was a lot of light behind them. But they're up at the top.

We did a lot of swimming while at Grandma's house. It was so nice to have the pool right out the back door. No packing swim bags or worrying about who hasn't gone to the bathroom. One night Neil and I even went swimming after the kids were in bed!

The kids became much braver in the water on this trip. Sadie started swimming even longer distances, learned how to breathe without stopping, and perfected her technique for diving for sticks. Madoc no longer needs a grown-up holding on to him the whole time. And Charlotte just loves the water. The pool was 88 to 90 degrees the whole time which is MUCH warmer than our pool here and it made the whole experience so pleasant.

 Could she be wearing any more floaties?

And a random pic of my dad and Trey.

County Fair

More birthday pictuers...

After our birthday festivities we went to the fair and ate yummy food and after much begging the kids got to go on some of the rides.