Archive for the ‘Madelyn’ Category
Top Ten Birthday Pictures
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
We celebrated Madelyn’s third birthday party this weekend. So, for my Top Ten today I give you my favorite pictures from her party!
For breakfast I let the girls have toast with Nutella as a special treat. Love their Nutella smiles!
The cake! It was a little lopsided and I had a super hard time using the frosting pouches and tips from Cake Mate (never again!!) so my writing was a little off. But still…
The theme was just a Flower/Butterfly theme. Madelyn couldn’t decide one so I finally just picked some cute, matching party goods from the dollar store and went with that. I don’t think she really cared what the theme was!
This was the smallest party I’ve ever had. There were all the kids I invited, minus one. Madelyn doesn’t like a lot of commotion or large groups of people so a large party wouldn’t have been what she really wanted. We had a simple cook out.
Love this picture of Madelyn trying to open her gift. Like it required a lot of exertion! She received a lot of Barbies and Barbie stuff. She loves them. With every gift she would say ” I wonder if it’s a Barbie?” and then gasp and “oooh and aahh” over each new Barbie she got.
This is the best picture I got of her in her party dress. We got a lot of complements on it. My mother in law has good taste! From now on you’ll notice Madelyn is holding that Mermaid Barbie in.every.single. picture. She literally did not let go of it for two days.
Cake time! She didn’t have any, by the way. Once she opened her Mermaid Barbie we didn’t see much of her after that. She’s my loner and perfectly happy playing in the corner by herself.
Madelyn holding her Mermaid Barbie? Check. Madelyn not eating her birthday cake? check.
For party games, I turned on the sprinkler and let the kids throw water balloons. Mike had them try to get the water balloons in the little basket ball net. They had a blast! I love this picture of the exploding balloon in Katelyn’s hands.
Post water play snack. Madelyn did not participate in any of the water play and instead chose to watch holding her Barbie.
This picture was taken after everyone left. The girls sat on the deck and played with Madelyn’s new Barbie Camper. It was so cute to listen to their play. It was a perfect day for a third birthday party and we all had a great time.
For more Top Ten Tuesday head over to Oh Amanda!
Happy 3 to Madelyn!!
Friday, August 20th, 2010
Tomorrow my “baby” turns three. How did this happen? I told myself I wasn’t going to be one of those moms who constantly wonders how time slips away because I was going to know where all that time went. But… I’ve turned into that mom!
My cute, 9 pound baby girl went from this:
to this:
to this:
to this:
to one of the sweetest, most content and cuddliest almost-three-year-olds I’ve ever met.
To my sweet, adorable Madelyn Reese:
We love you and are so proud of you. We are so happy that God gave you to us!
HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY!!!
You Make Me Smile
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
This little girl will be the big THREE in a couple of weeks.
Seeing her adorable, smiling face every day brings me great joy.
She’s my cuddly, sweet little girl
Who still needs her naps and
And loves her sister and her friends.
She’s my adorable, almost three year- old ,second born and she definitely makes me SMILE.
This post is linked to Wordful Wednesday over at Seven Clown Circus.
Purposeful Parenting
Monday, June 28th, 2010
Before you think that I’m writing a post on how to be a good parent let me assure you that this is NOT that post. This is a post about how imperfect my parenting is.
Are you purposeful in your parenting?
I’ve come to find out that I’m really not! As both my girls get older I’m finding that I can’t just “wing it” anymore. I can’t just send them on their way with a few answers and a snack. They were happy playing with their play-doh, coloring and watching t.v. There for a while they were too young to notice much and easily distracted with pat answers.I could tell them to “do as I say” and hope they didn’t “do as I do”.
I used to spend a good amount of time working on letters and numbers with Katelyn. She knew a lot more at almost three years old than Madelyn does at almost three. Madelyn is my laid back, easily pleased and content child. She will play with literally anything. Rocks, her fingers, bird feathers…..anything. She hardly ever asks for anything so when she does I’m happy to oblige her. She is happiest playing by herself, in her own little world. So, I think “Why disturb her to work on letters, crafts, spelling her name or numbers??” Madelyn is my “easy” child. So easy, in fact, that I can easily be unpurposeful in my parenting with her!
Katelyn constantly needs attention.
Ahhh…Katelyn. My precocious, impatient, stubborn, silly, inquisitive, strong-willed, beautiful almost-five-year-old. Let’s just say she’s my “challenging” child. I don’t know how it happened but we seem to have raised a 4 year old little demanding Diva. I’ve found myself butting heads A LOT with her and also getting very frustrated. I find myself constantly saying “no” to her and getting on to her. I want to say “yes” but her behavior here lately is pushing me to say ” no” all the time. She is really pushing the boundaries of the knowledge I thought I had on parenting. Some days she completely wears me down mentally, emotionally and physically. I’ve found those days to be a complete parenting FAIL. I’ve yelled too much. I’ve not been consistent enough. I’ve taken the easy way out. I’ve been short and irritable with her. I have been a terrible example.
I swear she is hitting puberty already. Her mood swings are unbelievable! She is CONSTANTLY wanting, asking, wishing for or demanding something she can’t have at the moment. Or ever, for that matter. “No” ,”wait” , “later” and”not now” are not acceptable answers in her mind. She pushes,begs and argues with me to my pulling-my-hair-out screaming limit. We’ve really had to put our foot down and discipline her EVERY time she asks for something more than once. Whether we say “yes” or “no”. That’s one thing that drives Mike nuts as well. She repeats herself and argues all the time. (Maybe she’ll be a lawyer???)
Here’s an example of a typical conversation that goes on 50 times a day.
Katelyn: Mom, can I have juice? (have ice cream, have cookies, can you buy me a toy on t.v, have snack right after lunch, have a sleep over, go to McDonald’s, go to Nana and Papa’s etc etc)
Me: Wait a minute. Let me finish (insert task)
Katelyn: (2 minutes later) Can I have juice? Mama CAN I HAVE JUICE??
Me: When. I’m. done. here.
Katelyn: (another 2 minutes later) Can I have juice now? Mom, can I HAVE some JUICE?
Me: I SAID when I’m done! I will let you know when I’m done.
Katelyn: But, mom! I want juice RIGHT NOW.
Me: What have I already said????????!!!
Katelyn: (pouting) When you’re done…..
Me: Exactly. Go play.
Katelyn: ( 2 minutes later) Mooom, can I have juice now? Are you done now? You’re taking too looong!
Me: I SAID WAIT!!!!! WALK AWAY!
Katelyn: But mom…!!
Me: That’s it! No juice for you. You can have some water when I’m DONE HERE but no juice. I told you that I would GET YOUR JUICE AS SOON AS I WAS DONE HERE BUT YOU KEEP INTERRUPTING ME and you’re not listening. You need to learn to WAIT!!! Go sit on the couch!
Katelyn: (Burst into tears) Mooom!!! That’s not fair. Waaahhhh
(Commence me feeling extremely bad and guilty)
These types of conversations go on all day long. Sometimes they are reasonable requests that just require her to wait a minute. Sometimes they are outrageous requests that she doesn’t understand why she can’t do or have. And usually when I do give her something it’s never what she actually wants. She always wants something different that what she’s getting. She’s never happy the first time around. S the is in an extremely ungrateful stage right now.
I get so frustrated and think ” Oh my word! Why can’t this child just be happy with what I gave her? Why doesn’t she just give up??”
Then it hits me. That’s how I am with God. Constantly asking for stuff. Constantly being ungrateful for what he’s given me. Some days I think that the reason God isn’t giving me another child is that I’m not doing very good with the two that I have!
The Bible says to “train up a child in the way he should go” and that children are ” a gift” from the Lord. I have to start taking this parenting thing more seriously! I can’t parent each day absentmindedly, correcting and punishing haphazardly. I have to remember that these children don’t just know the correct behavior that is expected of them. I have to model and teach it to them. I can’t get angry and frustrated with their behavior if I haven’t taught and modeled the correct ones! If I’m short, irritable and impatient they will learn to be short, irritable and impatient. If I model discontentment they will learn discontentment.
I do need to take some extra time with Madelyn to teach her some basic, pre-school concepts. I need to make sure they are learning Scripture consistently at home. That I’m teaching them Biblical principles myself. Not just depending on Sunday School to teach them what they need to know about the Lord. The Lord has gifted me with these children and I HAVE to start being a better example and truly “training” them in the values, principles and behaviors I want them to have as adults. God has entrusted Mike and me with their minds and hearts and we need to to be more purposeful about how we guide them. We only have a short period of time to lay these important foundations.
I think part of the problem is that I have been angry and discontent for a long time myself. As many of you know part of my problem is that I don’t want to be here in New England. I want to be in Texas. I don’t like New England. Plain and simple! That has been a source of discontentment with me. The other one is my desire and struggle to have another child. There are several other issues I’m working on but those are for my journal. I haven’t liked myself very much for a long while. And I’m not saying I have poor self esteem or hate my looks. What I haven’t liked is my attitude!! I haven’t liked who I’ve become as a person. I feel as if I haven’t been truly living. I’ve been stuck in the if-onlys. I’ve had unrealistic expectation from people in my life. I haven’t accepted the way things are. I want to start living. Accepting how God wants my life right now. I want to start parenting purposefully and focusing on the children I have now.
God and I are having some words but God is truly working on and in me. I’m blessed right now and in the present.
And if you’ve read this far I thank you!! Thank you for letting me share what God is doing in my life right now.
The Secret To Good Makeup….
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
“The secret to good makeup is not over doing it” says Madelyn to herself while applying her “makeup” the other day.
Those wise words were apparently spoken by Ruby of “Max and Ruby” fame.
Truer words (in regards to makeup) have never been spoken.
“I have a wonderful make-up crew. They’re the same people restoring the Statue of Liberty.” ~Bob Hope
“I will not retire while I’ve still got my legs and my make-up box.” ~Bette Davis
“Use a make-up table with everything close at hand and don’t rush; otherwise you’ll look like a patchwork quilt.” ~Lucille Ball
“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.” ~Albert Einstein
“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:30
This post is linked up to Wordful Wednesday over at Seven Clown Circus.
*Quotes taken from BrainyQuotes.com
Umbrella
Friday, May 7th, 2010
I got some really good shots this week of the girls playing with their umbrella outside. It was an overcast day and about to rain. While I was watching them play it hit me how God is our umbrella in life.
He shields us from the rains, big and small, of life.
We usually are happy to have God as our umbrella when life is sunny and there’s no rain.
Then life starts to get a little dirty..
And the rain starts to fall and the mud starts to fly
And God sometimes allows us to get a little wet and muddy.
Then we start to complain, worry and cry. Sometimes we lose faith and completely try to get away from His umbrella and do all our own protecting. But God wants the rain to draw us closer to Him. He wants us to gather even tighter under His holy, righteous hand.
No matter how strong the rain and how far away we stray from that perfect umbrella of His hand
He always welcomes us back.
Even if we’re still a little muddy!!
Psalm 84:11
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
Psalm 37:23-24
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand.
Wherein Katelyn gets the “Rachel”
Sunday, April 25th, 2010
My girls decided to cut their own hair last week. Don’t ask me why because I thought we were past that stage. Thankfully the damage isn’t too bad.
Okay, first of all, this girl needs to stop growing. She looks fourteen in this picture. See the shorter hair that is framing her face? Yep, that’s what she added herself. It was all one length before. She apparently was going for a “Rachel” hair cut.
Here she decides to start having fun with the fact that I’m taking pictures of her misbehavior. But, if I didn’t do that what kind of mommy blogger would I be?
Think she’s sorry???
Don’t answer that!
Here’s some shots of Madelyn’s hair. Who couldn’t be bothered with us while watching t.v. Or, she may have been sitting on her little potty at the time and didn’t like the fact that I was taking her picture.
But…whatever, right?
She seemed to only have chopped a little chunk of her hair. Her hair has various layers in it since it’s still growing out so this chunk blends in a little better than Katelyn’s layers do.
You can see the chopped layer where it ends right beneath her ear.
Do you think they have futures as hair stylists?
I wanted to share with you some of the funny stuff the girls have been saying recently.
Madelyn insists on being called “Diego”. If you call her “Madelyn” she will calmly say ” My name is Diego.” If Katelyn refuses to call her that she’ll burst into tears and go into hysterics over it.
The other thing Madelyn is going around doing these days is stopping and shouting at me (or whoever else is near by) “ You’re out of the herd!!!
She gets this line from ” Ice Age” which both of the girls adore. She’ll only say it on her terms though. If we stand on our head, bribe and beg her to yell ” You’re out of the herd!!” she refuses to say it.
Madelyn, who is usually my quiet and shy child, found herself quite fascinated by another little girl at dance class the other day. The little girl was playing a hand held video game and her bangs kept falling in to her eyes. Madelyn kept reaching over and wiping her bangs out of her eyes. The little girl just ignored her and kept playing her game. Finally Madelyn looked at me and said ” Does she talk?”
Katelyn has been obsessed with death here lately. She keeps asking me when she’s going to die. Then she’ll say she doesn’t want to die and that she just wants Jesus to take her to Heaven. I’m seriously running out of ideas to get her mind off the subject. I keep telling her she doesn’t have to worry about that right now because it’s not going to happen any time soon. But she’s the type that wants answers now.
Katelyn walked around the grocery store with four fingers in the air the other day. When I asked her what she was doing she said she wanted everyone to know how old she was.
She seriously embarrassed me with a comment at church a few weeks ago. We had been ooohhing and aahing over this tiny newborn girl. She was super dainty and adorable. We then walked over to talk to another acquaintance that has a baby boy who’s about six months old. He’s big and chubby and super cute. As we were walking away she said very loudly ” Mama, I want a cute baby. Not like that one”. I wanted the floor to swallow me up. I don’t know if the mom heard her or not because I just kept walking. I know what Katelyn was trying to say and it wasn’t that she didn’t think the little boy was cute. What she meant was that she wants a newborn, tiny baby. She doesn’t want a big, older baby. I also explained to her that she can’t say things like that because it will hurt people’s feelings.I don’t know if she gets that yet.
I’m still walking around on a pregnancy high. I think it’s too early for me to really start feeling any pregnancy symptoms. I have been very tired but that’s it. I didn’t have morning sickness with either of my two girls so I have my fingers crossed that I won’t get it this time around either. I’m planning to post all about the day I found out I was pregnant.
For now I need to go to bed!
If You Give A Girl Some Lip gloss…
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
If you give a two year old girl some lip gloss she’ll probably want to smear it all over her face…
and smearing it all over her face will remind her that she has a big sister who would also likes to smear apply lip gloss. So she’ll probably ask for lip gloss for her big sister…
And once big sister applies lip gloss to her face it will remind her that she needs practice applying it to other people’s faces…
so she’ll ask daddy to be her model.
And once daddy agrees to be her model, mommy will thank God for having such a wonderful husband and father of her children…
……and remember that she has a blog where she loves to post about her husband and lip gloss loving girls
….. and then she’ll remember she has a camera and that this is a blog worthy moment
…And take pictures. Lots pictures.
……And post it on her blog. And when her little girls see the pictures on her blog, it will remind them that they love make-up.
So they’ll probably ask mommy for some lip gloss.
**100 Simply Mel points if you recognize the children’s book that this post is {trying to} reference
Out Of The Mouth Of Babes (Wordful Wednesday)
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Me: Why is Cinderella over here in the corner by the bird cage?
Madelyn (2.5 years)- Because she’s in time out. She be naughty.
Me: Oohhhkay
Katelyn (4 years) to Madelyn: I have to go potty. Lets count to five and wait for daddy to come out so I can go in.
Madelyn: Ok
Katelyn and Madelyn together: One, two, three, four, five…
Madelyn: …..Six, seven..
Katelyn: No! We’re only doing FIVE.
*********************************************************************
Katelyn to me: Mama, are there a lot of numbers in Maxachussetts? (that’s how she says Massachusetts! lol)
Me: Uh….sure.
*********************************************************************
Katelyn to Madelyn while in the tub: Madelyn did you know that if you’re blind you can put mud on your eyes and you won’t be blind anymore? That’s what Jesus did. He put-ed mud on a man’s eyes that was blind and then he could see!
Me to Katelyn: Yes, Jesus did that because he was Jesus and he did miracles like that during Bible times but that kind of miracle really doesn’t happen today.
Madelyn to Katelyn: Yeah, becauth(Maddy has a bit of lisp every now and then! So cute) ….if you put mud in your eyes……….you will have muddy eyes!!
(So much truth to this statement!)
*********************************************************************
While watching ” A Baby Story” the other day ( still not sure how wise of an idea it was to watch it with the girls around ) Katelyn was captivated by the woman giving birth. As she was pushing Katelyn looked at me and said in complete awe and wonder ” IS THE BABY IN THE MOMMY’S BUM???”
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This post is linked to Wordful Wednesday at Seven Clown Circus
Sisters……Friends…..Princesses
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there. ~Amy Li
A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. ~Marion C. Garretty
Is solace anywhere more comforting than in the arms of a sister. ~Alice Walker
You can kid the world. But not your sister. ~Charlotte Gray
Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply… ~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814
Sisters are different flowers from the same garden. ~Author Unknown
If your sister is in a tearing hurry to go out and cannot catch your eye, she’s wearing your best sweater. ~Pam Brown
When mom and dad don’t understand, a sister always will. ~Author Unknown
To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time. ~Clara Ortega
Happy Friday! Hug someone you love today.
*quotes taken from quotegarden.com*
