5th Birthday Party

We had the kids' party at the same play place we've had it the last two years.  They love it there and we literally can't beat the price anywhere else...not even having it at home.

Here are the cakes.  They were about $17 each.  I adore my cake lady.  Every year before the party I have to drive to Gloucester to get them then to Haverhill for the party but it's well worth it.  I send her some general ideas and this is what she comes up with.

Madison adored the crown on her cake.

Jackson's cake had all of HIS favorite superheroes on the side.

Madison's very special guest Rainbow Dash

Now that's how to eat cake!

Jackson and Madison (and Chris) have been very into superheroes lately so we were all decked out in our superhero shirts.  You can't really see my batman shirt though and Maddie's Supergirl shirt isn't overly obvious.

Busy with Madison

In the last week I've taken Madison to casting calls three times!

The first was last Monday for an Alfresco chicken sausage commercial. We got there and Madison wanted nothing to do with it. She wouldn't take her head out of my arm or talk to anybody. I was flipping out mad on the inside. We literally had to leave because she refused to go in. There was a very strong voice telling me not to leave. I had to figure out a way to get her to go back in. I ended up calling chris's mother to see if she could convince her to go back up. She promised to take her to the Museum of Science and she went back up there like a different person. She did awesome and they actually called her back. At the callback she was super happy to be there. I think they had called back 8 girls. They told me that night that they want her for the shoot but she is the alternate so she might not even be filmed. She has a fitting tomorrow and filming is Thursday at 6 AM?? Who's idea was that?? So this one job will consist of 4 trips into Boston for me. Not really sure it's worth the money she'll make as an alternate :-S

The other audition was for a baby alive commercial. What a cattle call that was! The place was crawling with adorable little girls. I haven't heard back on that one yet but it's been a while so I'm assumed she wasn't called back for it.

I must admit I think I like the print work better!

March 17th in iphone photos

OK, this was actually the 16th coming out of school.

This was another product that Madison shot last summer.  I found it at Walmart.  It's just a small sticker on the product so the image isn't very impressive but still very cool!

These were the pancakes they ordered this morning.  They even put food coloring in Jacksons to make it look like a real light saber.  Yeah, I know, it resembles something else too.

After Grandma took Madison to build a bear for her birthday (where she built a hello kitty ballerina bear) she is all about hello kitty.

Jackson at the comic store.  I love how interested he is in them.  Not much makes this boy sit still (well, except for TV and video games) so I love to see him sit and study them.

Our pints

Kids goofing around while we drink our pints

Reading updated

I just realized the video in an earlier post was not complete.  Darn flickr for not allowing longer videos!

I updated the post in case anyone is interested!

60 Months old

I'm pretty sure I stopped sharing my monthly photos but that doesn't mean I stopped taking them.  I did however decide that 60 months would be my last one.  At this point they aren't changing that much and I think 60 is impressive enough.

We had a great day today.  We started off the day at our favorite breakfast place where Madison ordered a hello kitty pancake and Jackson ordered a light saber pancake.  Outside the place has a nice wooden swing so I made the kids sit there so I could take their pictures.  I love 5.  Look how easy this was!

After breakfast we took them to Salem to go to a comic book store.  They absolutely adored all of the super hero items.  They both loved it there.  Chris picked out some $1 comics for them and then we decided on a whim to go to an irish pub for a guinness.  At noon it was already pretty crowded!  After we sat down I heard someone yell "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"  It was Uncle Mike and Auntie Kristen who were on the first location of a pub crawl.

After that we went to Toys R Us so they could pick out their present.  All the stuff they like was buy one get one 50% off.  Jackson is in love with super heroes now so he chose foam hulk gloves and wolverine claws.  Madison had really been wanting the strawberry shortcake cafe.  It was on sale for $20 from $35 plus we were able to get her the rainbow dash my little pony so soft newborn.....

that has HER PICTURE ON THE BACK OF IT for 50% off!!!  Since the lady I spoke to on the phone said that the girl on the back had brown hair and blue eyes, I was completely shocked to see Madison on the back of the box when I turned it over.  Her eyes are CLEARLY brown on the box!  I'm not really sure what kind of noise came out of my mouth but I RAN over to where Chris and the kids were.  It was so exciting!!!

We went home for a couple of hours after that and they played with their toys.  Then it was time for dinner.  We went back to the same place in Salem but this time we actually ate food...and had another guinness.  Don't worry the kids just split one.  Sheesh, what kind of mother do you think I am??

When we got home it was right to bed!  Tomorrow is their birthday party and my mom's birthday.  She's turning 60!!!

5th Birthday

As I went back in my blog to reminisce about the birth of my precious babies I was shocked at how little I shared and talked about.  Well, I guess it's not that surprising since it was a very difficult time and I was either pumping, feeding a baby, changing a baby, or dreaming about sleep.  But it made me want to go back into my photo album to see what more I could share.

They were born at 3am on the 17th and this photo was taken at some point after the sun came up.  Madison on the left and Jackson on the right.

My Aunt uncle and Grandmother came to visit on the 17th (among MANY other people).  My Aunt bought them these bunnies.  When I took their one year photos their heads were as tall as the bunnies.  They were so tiny when they were born and it's hard to see that in photos.

It amazes me they let teeny tiny infants ride in car seats.

I'm sharing this picture because the shirt that Olivia is wearing got handed down to Madison and she wore it a LOT.  I don't remember Olivia having the shirt so when I came across this picture tonight I thought, "what is Olivia doing wearing Madison's shirt??"  LOL

Back when they shared a crib.  They were propped up to help with the spitting up, completely covered in bibs and cloth diapers to catch the spit up, swaddled in miracle blankets, and in those positioners to keep them feeling more snug.  It was quite a process to put them down to sleep especially when they would just wake up 2 hours later and we'd need to do it all again.  These blankets were made by my Grandma Fargo.

Look how big the pacifiers are!

Madison at Berroco

I really can't believe I didn't write about this yet.  I was so excited to see the catalogue that Madison was in January!  I'm sure I shared it on facebook but this poor blog is so neglected (as is my blog reading...pathetic I tell ya).  :-(
The description of her shoot can be seen here and all of the images I took that day can be seen here (I can share now because the catalogue is out) but I will share a few favorites here. help me obi wan kanobi. you're my only hope.

I know I already shared this but I don't think I got enough love for it.



So In January I was stalking the Berroco website to see when the new catalogue was coming out.  It finally did and I was so excited!
This is a link to all of the patterns that were photographed that day.
Madison's individual links are here here and here.
And then Berroco made their own blog posts about the day.  Part one is here.  Part two is here.