Happy Birthday Miss Madeleine

Today is Maddie's 15th birthday.... Where does the time go??? I know its an old cliche... but really I remember just thinking what will she look like as a kid like a 4 year old.... I signed her up for high school a week or two ago and have cried several times since knowing that we only have her for a few more years! Me and Maddie do so much together and I just don't want this motherhood thing to end!!
Enough about me....
Here are 15 random things you may or may not know about Madz.1. She is very confident in herself, she does not really care what others think about her, she is who she is.... I love that about her. This was her this last summer at the public pool.. no she doesn't care if people stare at her for wearing her swim cap... she did not want to ruin her hair.

2.She likes the most random gifts and little things make her really excited! This ball is what she got this year for her birthday she can't wait to try it out (she really wanted a golf cart, she had me pretty much convinced but not her dad its too excessive and when Tom said it would have to come out of my houseboat money I couldn't do it)... It is always fun to see what she will want for Christmas and her birthday...

or like this shirt, my sister Audrey made a birthday girl shirt for her baby... Maddie really wanted one as well. She also wants the squeaky shoes, but I have yet to find them in adult sizes!

She wanted her room filled with balloons???.....??? She has been telling us this for months we should have been more prepared poor Tom was up half the night!

She wanted this perfume, because it has a little ball thing you squeeze to get the perfume out, like the old fashion kind..

(another balloon picture)

3. She is a 4.0 student not just some quarters, it is also her accumulative. She has a goal to get it every quarter, and she is one who sets her mind to something and does it!! I hope she keeps it up!

4. She is going to be performing in the Herriman Talent show, she tried out and made it... way to go Madz!

5. She is deathly afraid of mice!

6. She is not even a little bit afraid of spiders, I taught her to be the spider killer at the tender age of 2.

7. She is great with kids, she loves them and they love her. She has sleep overs and make overs etc with her little cousins and she can really work magic with them

8. She is saving her money for a convertible blue slug bug...and will be driving in one year she will actually be getting her permit this next week aaaahhhhh!

9. She loves sugar!! Especially ice cream/shakes... she likes to call her aunt Autumn and say, hey I was thinking we could go get some ice cream, and if its not too much, could you drive and buy??

10. She is very very money conscience she never spends her money she saves almost every bit. Even when you take her out shopping she is very concerned with how much things cost even if someone else is buying. She thinks spending $50 on jeans is out of control let alone $100's... when looking at shoes yesterday she says... "ya I like them but really I have plenty of shoes"

11. She has 2 jobs (one teaching for me and she also she teaches at Jolley's tumbling)

12. She wants to live in Hawaii, and be a surfer more then anything. She is working towards going to surf camp this summer?? We will see how it goes (if she makes the drill team, it may interfere)

13. She loves Taylor Swift!!


14. She wants to be a pharmacist when she grows up and is pretty goal oriented with her path to get there already paved out in her mind.

15. She is "amazing Maddie" as my mom used to call her (making fun of me I might add). I love her (she first made me a mother which is what I had always wanted), she is a great first child, she is a good example, she is an over achiever, she is beautiful, healthy, strong, strong willed, can be kind, can also hold her own when needed and sometimes when not. She is smart, funny, quirky is not afraid to do anything or say anything to anyone. Is a hard worker....

Did I mention I love her!!!

Happy Birthday Madz I am so glad you part of our family!!

Lent update...

Well I thought I was doing really good on my not swearing lent goal I went completely sailor free for 3 full days!! Day 4 one slip up I nearly cried with disappointment by day 6 only 3 slips which is pretty good for me. Then today came..... sad but true, I was running super late to pick up Hayden for his orthodontist appointment (not my own fault) so I was a bit testy...also tomorrow is Maddie's birthday and all she wants is a golf cart.... (do the rest of you out their spend that kind of money on birthdays? We feel it is a bit excessive even used ones you find on the Internet that you have no guarantee work) so I was super stressed as to what to get her and she was of NO help... I had 2 teenage birthday's in a row where all I got was a pair of jazz shoes... wah wah right but I actually cried today because I did not want her to have a "jazz shoe birthday" So back to picking Hayden up, school was getting out people were in my way all parked around the drop off area... really does your teenager really need a ride home I'm sure they could use the walk!! It was over I had a little freak out that would make any sailor proud and continued all the way to the orthodontist with every car that got in my way. Or when I saw a cop and I was speeding and absolutely can not get another ticket right now! Poor Hayden back to his old mother today.... I will re-commit myself and see if I can go more then 3 days! P.S. I only use words starting with "D", "S" and "H".... none of the big guys ever!
So those of you who are experienced with Lent what happens when you fail????

Lent

Ok so I follow this blog that I love (thanks to Becky) and this lady blogged yesterday about Lent starting today, I don't really know anything about Lent except you give something up for 40 days.... well she did a lengthy post on it and said it is a count down to Easter, an anticipation to New Beginnings..... so you give something up, and or take something on.... something to being a new you is what I take from it... all you Catholics out there I'm not claiming to know what I'm talking about I just think it sounds like a good thing to try.... Her post the day before had been about trying something new she had seen on Someones blog called Family Home Evening... funny right so if she can take something from my religion to better her family I can certainly take something from hers to better myself... it starts today, and I would really like to learn more about the whole thing so if anyone out there can give me the low down I would really appreciate it!! I am going to go the 40 days without swearing... I know I know its supposed to something that you value which I don't value swear words, (I do however find them funny sometimes) but it is something I really would like to change about myself. I also don't think I could go without sugar(which is something I really value and should be going without) it would be like Jesus fasting for 40 days for me because it is all I eat... and lets be real here I am in no way close to my brother's perfectness so I don't think I would make it! I am also going to take on reading my scriptures better so for sure each of the next 40 days... I know I am opting the easy way out on my Lent adventure, but not really knowing what its for sure about I'll give it a simple try.... let me know any thoughts on this!

12th Day of Christmas...

How Was your Christmas??? We had a great Christmas... I love how excited the kids get and how excited they get for each other... or to give their gifts. Canyon was really into giving his gifts he had picked...He loved wrapping them too. We let him just pick what he wanted which was kind of fun... Maddie got a fry cooker from him, Liv pet shops and Hayden got legos.... It was fun, not all kids get (especially that little) that it is almost more fun to give...

Here is Hayden with his favorite gifts... an Ipod, an air gun and a video game of course!!

Here is Madz, she asked for a Cotton Candy maker..... she loved it!!! (As you can see)
Each year she asks for really random gifts, people even start asking us what is on her list... this year she wanted an English phone booth... Santa couldn't pull through with that one, she got a t-shirt with a phone booth, but he made up for it with the Cotton candy maker, it is a real industrial size machine......... and I think it fits in with her odd gift collection. Last year she got a bow and arrow, she's received crutches, a metal detector..... etc Its kind of fun!

Anyone craving cotton candy come by or give her a call, she loves to make it!!

Here is Olivia with her favorite gifts, she got Rebecca the American girl doll, a sewing machine and Furbees.... I know they are 10 year old toys, but Maddie told her about them when they were talking about Zoo Zoo pets and she decided she really needed one.... after getting it, I think she is a little afraid of it. She asked me to come get it when she was going to sleep because it kind of freaked her out... I think she thinks it is a gremlin...

Here's little Canyon.... he so wanted all the characters from Toy Story and Hungry Hungry Hippos...His age is so fun!!

Here are Madz and Liv with their American Girl dolls... Maddie got Kaya which she has wanted for a really long time....

About an hour after everything was opened Tom told me and the girls there was one more present for us, it was wrapped in a huge box, and for all 3 of us so I thought it must be a chest to store our American girl doll stuff in.... (I have a small fetish if you didn't know).... anyway it was these t-shirts and tickets to Taylor Swift....!!!.... We were so excited we absolutely love Taylor Swift

All in all we had a great Christmas we feel very blessed to have spent it with family....

"through the years we all will be together" right!!

I hope you all had a great Christmas too!

On the 11th day of Christmas.....

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!

On the 10th day of Christmas...

How do you incorporate more of the true meaning into Christmas?..... In years past we have had the manger out, and then you put hay in it each time you do nice things for each other. We have not done that for a few years, and this year we really should have my kids have been fighting so much lately!! I ask the kids (especially Canyon because he is young) why we really have Christmas at least every other day through the whole season, but this year we haven't read stories or anything..... and today Maddie said it doesn't really feel like Christmas. It was after we finally read Luke 2 and watched the movie on Jesus' birth that they finally felt like it was Christmas, so any ideas on how to spread this out throughout the whole Season and not just on Christmas Eve???

The 9th Day of Christmas

Today's question is what are your favorite Christmas programs?

From dance concerts to school recitals, there is always that one kid that stands out for one reason or another. Check out Canyon in his school program - and yes, he stands out!

Merry Christmas!