Dear Blog...

I've been avoiding you for some time now.
I'm not sure if it is due to my new
love of pinterest,
or that I have so much to write about
that I don't even know where to start.
Some day I'll return:)

On Friday I was unloading the dishes while the
girls were playing in the living room.
Nothing out of the ordinary,
Madison was dancing around Raelee
as Rae babbled to her.
All the sudden I heard a thud and Rae cried,
I instantly thought that Madi was trying to pick
up Rae....luckily I was wrong.
Madi had just jumped up in the air and landed with a thud.

Me: "Madi, what did you do?"
Madi: "I didn't do anything!"
Me: "Why is Raelee crying?"

she placed her little hand on her hip

Madi: "Because mommy, babies just cry sometimes."

ARE. YOU. KIDDING?
I'm pretty sure I stood there for a split second
with a dumbfounded look on my face.
Yup, my 2 year old has common sense!
:)
Thanks Mads, for reminding me yet again, just how bright you really are!

Tis the season for Autumn

This time of year is gorgeous in Kansas!
It's been in the 60's,
chilly enough for jackets and warming
up on the heater vents in the mornings:)
We have yet to see any snow,
which is quite different from what we are used to.
We are LOVING it!

Earlier today, Madison wanted to count her money
that she has stashed in an old vitamin bottle.
We counted it out - $19.47,
this girl is richer than I thought!
As we were sliding the money back through
the slot in the lid she glanced up at
me with quite the evil looking sneer and said,
"Mommy, you are a vulture - DON'T steal my money!"
Seriously? Yes.
Let's be honest - I was HELPING put the money back!
I have no clue how this girl comes up with all of her lines.
I just know she continues to make me laugh,
harder and harder!

These two are quite the pair.
I have no clue what they were googling over,
but the best is when I asked them to smile for me!

CLASSIC!
get real mom, we were having fun before you
brought out the camera

Trevor and Madi made some noodles
for some yummy soup!
Or dare I say, Madison showered our
kitchen with flour??
Either way, the soup was good
and we all had fun!

please excuse the garbage, our un-carved pumpkin
and Madison's panties:)

Trick-or-Treat

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
ahem...like 2 weeks ago :)

We had a wonderful Halloween this year!
We had 2 parties on different nights,
plus trick-or-treating on Halloween night too.
Madison got her dressing up fill for the month!

We went as the Wizard of OZ this year....
duh, who couldn't see that coming, really?

My lovely friend Jessica started our day off
with a haircut for miss moo!
The girl's hair is sooo long,
her curls were starting to get weighed down!
She cut a few inches and added some layers,
So much better - Thanks Jess!!

Our Raelee babe has some long hair too!
at 3 1/2 months we got some piggy tails goin on :)
I shoulda done this forever ago!

She was practically begging me to rub those
spots where the ponies were...
you all know that is the best feeling after a pony!!

She's totally got style...
plus, who can resist those CHEEKS!

We had one party the week before Halloween,
Madison = Dorthy
Raelee = Todo
Trevor & Keesa = the lollipop guild munchkins
We didn't get a picture on our camera of this,
but one of my friends did.
Depending on how horrible we look, I might share.

The Saturday before we had trunk-or-treating
with our ward and a dinner!
Madi thought this was the coolest thing ever.
Trev and I were poopers and didn't want to
get into our munchkin garb,
so for this one Trevor wore is bus driver outfit
and I wore the famous blowup turkey!

Madi did a little trick-or-treating up our street
and then she helped pass out candy....
she LOVED passing out the candy and seeing all
the kids in their costumes.

We also had some friends over for
our tradition of chili and rootbeer!
We are such evil parents...
who buys a pumpkin
and never carves it??
oops, maybe next year!
We were too busy playing and doing skype!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!

Growing kids

We started out our month the best way
we could,
with General Conference of course!
We were able to watch all four sessions
TOGETHER!
In the past, Trevor has always had to work
on Saturdays.
It was so nice to have 2 full days of just
our little family!

This was Sunday morning,
we watched upstairs on the computer
while I made our traditional cinnamon rolls
for breakfast.

It totally look like she is taking notes....
start 'em early right?

Trevor had an itch to do something
awesome for Madison.
We bought her a new learning game,
and so he made a treasure map with clues
for her to discover her special surprise!

I can't decide if it was more fun watching Madi
figure out all the clues,
or watch Trevor make it!

Yesterday was a special day for BOTH my girls!
They were both born on the 17th,
just in different months.
So Madison is officially 2 1/2 years
and Raelee in now 3 months.

Attempting to take a child's photograph
is no piece of cake....
especially when they are your own kids I have discovered.
So all the photographers out there who can get
kids to actually smile for pictures,
you get an extra gold star from me!

I tried taking some of the girls,
and well - at least I got one good one
out of like 50 for each of them!

Raelee loves her little jumperoo!
We've been putting her in it
every now and again in the last month.
She's gotten really good and holding her head up
so we felt it was safe.
She goes CRAZY in this thing.
She swings herself back and forth and up and down,
but only with her right foot.

Allison and I had a good turn out for
Daddy daughter night
for Activity Days.
I love being with these cute girls!
They make me laugh so hard,
I forget the enthusiasm and energy
8-11 yr old girls have.

Madison is always wanting to sing
to her baby sis and tell her stories.
These two light up every time they see each other.

I can't believe how much they BOTH have grown

Raelee's 3 month growth picture.
I don't know her stats,
but I can tell you, she seems to be getting
taller everyday!
( ps, I'm totally going to finish this quilt ONE day )

Madison's 2 1/2 yr growth picture.
She's pretty much out grown her quilt!

...once upon a time she was tiny!

So Madison had her check up with the dr yesterday.
They did the routine look in ears, eyes, mouth.
Took height and weight measurements,
( 36 in. tall, 56% - 27 lbs 31% )
Madi has always been our super skinny girl,
she is finally ON the charts people!
31% is amazing for her, I was so pleased.
The dr said now that she finally has some weight,
she will probably shoot up in height!
They also did some intelligence testing,
to make sure she is at the level of a 2 1/2 year old.
It was fun to watch Madi answer all the questions,
and to see the dr's response!
He looked at me surprisingly and said
I need to put her in kindergarten ASAP.
I just laughed at him, and he was serious.
She came out with a 5-6 year old level!
She has some serious brains!
Way to go Madison, we are so proud of
how smart you are!
We won't be putting her in school,
but we will think about pre-school next year!

September wrap up

Ever since Trevor started
school again I feel like time is
rushing right past us!

Every Wednesday the girls
and I go play with a bunch of friends
from the JRC.

A few weeks ago
we went to feed some ducks
at one of the many ponds.

Madi has gotten really good at
throwing.
It was hilarious,
she kept hitting all the
ducks - oops!

They had this sweet tree
that had a bunch of carvings.
I have found they have
very random pieces of art
around Topeka


That same week
we went to the zoo with
Madi's friends
Wyatt and Claire.

This poor guy must have gotten a cold,
Madi kept telling me
"wipe his nose, he has boogies"

In September Raelee also turned 2 months!
She is still growing like crazy!
22.75 in - 61% for height
11.69 lbs - 69% for weight

Raelee is purple and Madison is red

She has been our amazing sleeper!
At 4 wks Raelee slept 7.5 hrs until
6 wks, then she switched to 8-9 hrs,
at 8 wks she was sleeping 10 hrs per night
and the five nights in a row we have hit 11 hrs!!
Very different from Madison,
who just couldn't stand being away from her mommy:)
We love both our girls
and enjoy seeing the differences they each have!

It's starting to get 'cold' in the mornings now!
Upper 60's and low 70's
first thing in the morning.
It feels wonderful!
I love fall, and am so excited
to actually enjoy a few months
instead of the few weeks we normally had
back home!

Raelee has been loving
Madi's leggins!
They are way too big,
but they do the trick for the few
hours in the morning that we need them!

We had a B-day party
for Granny-Tanny!!
( yes, she is all the way across the country
but that won't stop us from celebrating! )
wonderful thing we call skype!
Madison loved decorating
and cooking oatmeal butterscotch bars!

Party dress and all!
ps...it was eeyore's birthday too!
He turned 2 and Granny Tanny turned 3!
Man she is old!

Last month, Raelee
discovered she has hands!
She has begun to smile and babble tons!
She gets especially happy every time
her sister is 2 mm away from her face.
She loves the attention and Madison
is more than willing to give it!

Madi was sad to learn that it isn't 100 degrees in the morning
anymore.
She wanted to swim.....
mommy to the rescue!

September vanished before our eyes,
I'm already behind posting
for October!
But the good thing is,
it's cause I'm having so much fun with my family!

More Miss Moo Quotes

I had just finished making lunch and had
asked Madi to come up to the table
her response,

"I'm being entertained right now!"
( she was playing with my flip flops )

I was playing with Raelee on the floor
and Madi had been coloring by us.
I asked her what she was coloring,

"I'm just writing INDENTATIONS to my family"

I'm fairly certain she meant invitations,
but am still shocked that she even
knew the word.

We sat down for dinner.
I made stuffed shells,
Madi loves anything with noodles!
She took one bite,

"Mommy, you make the good job best dinner ever!"

By far my favorite of the day!
I was changing Raelee's messy diaper,
as I pulled the diaper off
Madi gasped and yelled,

"It's GREASY!!"
( bwahahaha, seriously? I almost cried laughing )

Madi keeps us quite entertained!

fAmiLiA

We were lucky enough to
have another visit from some family!
(yay for family)
One of my sisters came out for a splendid weekend
away from school and work!
Every time a plane would fly by
( before my sister was to arrive )
Madi would stop whatever she was doing
and say,
"Millie's plane is here!!!"
Eventually, yes it was her plane
and we had such a GREAT
weekend!

Of course Madi wanted to
take Millie to the art museum!
We were lucky, the lego museum
was only here until that Saturday.

This is the wickedly crazy bird
houses that are ginormous!

Making her very own lego creation

and it wouldn't be a trip if we
didn't feed the fish!

enjoyed some of the GREEN scenery!
( yes, amazingly topeka is green )

and I attempted making a grasshopper pie!
it was delicious :)

Made raspberry jam...

Planted some tulips in the front yard!
Hopefully they will pop up in the spring.

Crazy statues at the University

Thanks for the visit Millie!!
We loved having you,
and the fact that you brought
a HUGE bag of SQUEAKY CHEESE!