L Word "fans"

What's with Alice's tattoo being covered?

fans is in quotations due to the unhappiness of this season so far

My birthday part 2

My parents, Chris's dad, and Mike, Kristen, and Raffe came over to celebrate with us.  We had chinese food and ice cream cake.  The kids were entertaining, the conversation was flowing and I won $10 on a scratch ticket.

She looks so old to me here!

Raffe being a goof as usual

Maddie tasting Grandma's coffee...it was luke warm at most...

Cousins

Madison and Jackson fed themselves a ton of fried rice.  Then Grandpa fed them ice cream cake.

It was a great day and night.

My birthday part 1

I had a great birthday.  Chris made me breakfast while I chilled on the couch with the kiddos.  He had to run out after that to run some errands so I stayed home and cleaned since we were having people over that night.  I have to start off by saying that Chris and I don't buy each other gifts for birthdays but he came home with a new camera bag for me since my current one is a tight squeeze.  It was one that I picked out when we were looking a while back.  However, when we were looking I said I was sad that camera bags are all made for men.  I really wanted a girly one.  I ended up finding someone on etsy who makes gorgeous bags but I never ended up telling Chris about it because I certainly wasn't expecting a present for my birthday and my mom had already purchased the girly bag for me (it's on it's way).  So there was a little drama in the middle of the day.

But while Chris was out the kids were absolutely perfect playing together with no tantrums at all.

Jackson found my tripod in the closet then he got his camera and played with all of that for a while.

Then they were both in this storage container yelling at the top of their lungs while standing up and falling down.  That went on for a while.

My friend Stacey got these containers (the other one is pink for Maddie) for us for Christmas.  I haven't chosen a use for them yet but I think they are the kids favorite toys.  For some reason though tantrums always ensue over them.  They get aggravated when it collapses and they can't figure out how to fix it or one of a hundred other reasons.  They get put away many times just to avoid the tears.

The kids and me on my 36th birthday

The kids and me on my 35th birthday.  I can't believe how different they look!

Maddie crying because Jackson barely touched her or something equally horrific.

Jackson wearing my shoes

to be continued...

Before and after

These pictures are from last weekend when we gave Jackson a haircut.

This was also the last time he had a binky!

Sledding

The kids and I spent the day at my mother's yesterday so I could help her out with the website for her business.  Chris had a wake to go to that night so I ended up leaving the kids there so I could go to work and they just spent the night.  This morning I woke up at 9:30 thinking "ah, this is great!"  At 10:30 I woke up again and said "OK, this is perfect I can get up now".  At noon I woke up again.  Oops!  It was absolute heaven!

I brought snow gear over when I went to pick them up so we could take them in the yard to go sledding.  Maddie didn't want anything to do with it.  So she stood and watched Jackson.

What can I say?  The boy loves sledding.  My mom would push him down and he would squeal with delight the whole way down.  She'd come down to get him then push him again.  I love how in all of the pictures you can see Tillie chasing the sled or watching over.

Then there was the unavoidable face plant.  I actually asked my mother if I should help him or take a picture.  You can see which one I chose.  He actually handled it very well and didn't really cry...just kind of fussed.

Eventually we got Maddie to go down but she refused to go alone.

While the kids were at my mom's house she taught them to say "go away" to the squirrels that come to her deck and eat the bird food.  When I got there Maddie was standing at the sliding glass door yelling "go away" to a squirrel.  Jackson said it too but not as clearly as Maddie.  After we got home I put them down for a nap and Madison was yelling "go away" over and over and over again before finally falling asleep.  I'd say a good 45 minutes.  I was afraid she'd wake up saying it to Chris and he would be offended but he said she didn't say it tonight.

23 Months

(I'm changing it up a bit this month. The monthly letters were starting to get to feel like a chore and of course I didn't want that. Since my ifriend Eva (I can't link her because her blog is private) was the one that inspired the monthly letters I'm following her lead again in going to a more concise bullet list of sorts. My ifriend Shannon has had the right idea all along. My mom asked me today when I was going to give up taking their photo on the 17th of every month. That I'm not ready to change just yet. I was so inspired by Hazel's photos in front of her antique fireplace that I tried to duplicate them at my mom's house. They're adorable but nothing can compare to that baby in a tutu.)

• Grandma bought Jackson his first matchbox car for Valentine's Day, a jeep just like Auntie's. Madison immediately claimed it as her own which led to many tears on Jackson's part. So that night we took a trip to TRU to stock up on matchbox cars. It's still not enough. They both want ALL of the cars.
• We got one of those wooden-bead-on-a-track toys from our friend Susan and it has been one of their favorites lately.
• They still don't interact much except for the occasional giggle fest that results from chasing each other.
• Swimming lessons are going very well. They both enjoy it very much except for when they have to put the toys back. They don't have any floaty things on and we hold them just under the arms and away from our bodies. They both feel secure enough to reach out with their hands to grab toys and they both kick their feet when they're on the kick board. Madison will put her head back when it's time to "float" on their backs but Jackson resists it. He just sits right up and the teacher yells at us like we're not listening to her. I should probably write a post about her because there is enough material to warrant it.
• Nana will be so happy that Jackson hasn't had a binky since Sunday and Maddie since before that. He asked for a "bink" once yesterday and today but he was easily distracted.

• Jackson always asks where Maddie is "a ma-ee".
• After he accomplishes something he exclaims "I did it!". These things include putting the cabinet lock back on the trash cabinet and taking the decorative screw off the front of the refrigerator and putting it back in.
• Jackson's hair was getting a bit long so we got out the clippers. Even on the longest setting it made his hair pretty darn short. It makes him look so old and a lot like my cousin's son Tyler when he was Jackson's age. I had never noticed a resemblance before but it's definitely there.
• Jackson's diet still consists of baby food sweet potatoes, apple sauce, yogurt, whole grain goldfish, and milk. I've tried all the suggestions. The boy just won't let anything else past his lips...unless it has sugar in it.
• Jackson is all boy. He loves to throw things (including balls at lamps and into the kitchen sink), wrestle with things (including Maddie who does NOT find it amusing), hit things (including me and the cat), but also to cuddle. That boy is a cuddle machine and I just can't get enough of him.
  

• Madison labels everything and who it belongs to. Mama's coat, Jachan's Mickey, Daddy's phone, Grandma's car just to name a few. As she's walking around the house she's constantly pointing out something and saying what it is.
• I fill a small bowl of goldfish for a snack. Maddie will go in the other room, put the goldfish in her hand then come back to me with the empty bowl and ask for "more pwease". I put more in the bowl then right there in front of me she dumps the ones from her hand back into the bowl.
• We bought a 5 pack of matchbox cars. I told Madison which one was my favorite now every time she holds it she says "Mama's favorite".
• Madison is a better eater so we share our dinner with her.
• Maddie says bye bye to everything. We really don't know where this came from since it's not something we ever encouraged either of them to do. If we're leaving the house she'll say "bye bye jachan's mickey, bye bye cup, bye bye mama" (even though I'm coming with her). She even says bye bye to things on her way to her room for a nap. We've never read Goodnight Moon to them either (go ahead...I'll wait here while you call DSS...oh, you're back? Ok moving along...) so it's not like she got the idea from there.
• Today she said three words "Mama's favorite car". I think this is her first three word phrase but I could be mistaken.
• Madison usually tells us when she poops. She says "po-poop" every time. I'm not sure where the extra syllable comes from but she sounds so cute saying it. Now she has taken to saying it when she...ahem...passes gas. Jackson passed gas this morning and Maddie pointed at him and said "po-poop".

I love you both with all of my heart.

Side note: 2 years ago today I had my baby shower. I was lucky to have been released from hospital bedrest and to be allowed out of bed to go to the shower!

600!

Wow, I didn't even notice that my last post was #600!  

Splashing

I finally got off my butt today and brought the kids outside.  I've been so lazy this week for some reason.  Even the laundry is backed up.

So while we were out in 50 degree weather Madison was obsessed with the one puddle at the end of the walkway.  Jackson liked it too but he did venture around the driveway.  Neither would walk in the snow on the lawn though.  I just let them go nuts in the puddle.  It's just a little dirty water that will come out in the wash (when I get around to doing it).

Birthday invitations

I really set myself up for failure last week.  I had to take some photos of the kids so I could design their birthday invitation.  I really had something specific in mind and of course the kids refused to cooperate.  I wanted to get photos of them with these particular bunnies that my aunt bought them at the hospital when they were born.  I have a photo of each of them with it in the hospital and I was able to get one of them with it last year for the invitation.  I wanted to continue the tradition but there was absolutely no getting them to lay down on the ground.

I had to give up and just go with regular photos.  The first two are the ones I used.