Smilebox.com

Okay, I LOVE this new website my mom showed me. It is smilebox.com. You can make scrapbooks online and put them on your blog. I had so much fun with them today. I wanted to share this fun find with ya'll. You can email the book and print it! Check it out!

Tag, I'm it!

Okay, so I LOVE these things in emails, but I never make the time to do them. I am the person that is named as least likely to reply....So, here it is, my list about me. Thanks Liz, it was fun!

About Me

1. What time did you get up this morning? I never really went to bed. The last two nights Hunter has been up every 1-2 hours crying, so as soon as I get back to sleep he wakes up again.

2. What do you usually have for breakfast? I LOVE breakfast food, but I usually do not get to eat until around 11 am, so I just go straight to lunch.

3. What is your favorite CD of the moment? I am always listening to Gary Allan. He is my favorite. I also have rediscovered Jimmy Eat World. I just love their first CD.

4. What kind of car do you drive? A GMC Acadia. I is soooo nice

5. Favorite sandwich? the Bobbie at Capriatti's...turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and mayo-yummy

6. Favorite item of clothing? jeans and a hoodie, I would live in that outfit every day

7. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Where wouldn't I go is a better question. I have to say China because Ryan won't let us go with his parents in October. Apparently it would be irresponsible to leave the kids for 3 weeks.....

8. What color is your bathroom? A sky blue

9. Where would you retire? A cruise ship. There is this one cruise that is 3 months long and goes all around the world.

10. Most memorable birthday? my 25th. Madison was only a week old and I could still barely move around.

11. Favorite sport to watch? Live would be baseball, that is my fav. On TV I would pick football. I love yelling at the players for doing dumb things like breaking the huddle with too many players on the field or taking their helmet off on the field.

12. Are you a morning person or a night person? I hate getting out of bed in the morning. The one thing I liked about Anna Nicole Smith was that she conducted her life from bed. So, I will go with option number two and say night person.

13. What is your shoe size? It used to be a 7 and thanks to Madison I am a 7 1/2 now.

14. Pets? No, never. We tell our kids we are allergic.

15. What did you want to be when you were little? The first female president of the United States.

16. What are you today? Exhausted and just trying to run my house, who cares about the country.

17. What is your favorite candy? I don't like candy that much, but I love dark chocolate candy bars every now and then.

18. What is your favorite flower? Tulips

19. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? The day we fly to Memphis for my dad's canoe race.

20. What are you listening to right now? Um, March Madness. UNC just won, booo! Go Memphis Tigers!

21. What is the last thing you ate? Cheesecake Factory

22. Do you wish on stars? Nope

23. What faith are you? Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

24. Who is the last person you talked to on the phone? My dad, recaping the Memphis game from last night.

25. Hair color? It used to be naturally white blonde, now it is sandy blonde.

26. Name of your favorite school teacher? Lily Anderson at BYU. I took 2 of her classes.

27. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate, like there is any other option.

28. When was the last time you cried? I don't remember. I am not much of a crier.

29. What is under your bed? Storage

30. What did you do last night? Nothing fun. Tried to keep Madison from crying after her surgery.

31. Favorite smell? Honeysuckle, it reminds me of spring and rain

32. What are you afraid of? Losing my loved ones

33. How many towns have you lived in? Anchorage, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Reno, Memphis, Germantown, Collierville, Provo, Woodland Hills, Stevenson Ranch, and Henderson, NV. I am done moving!!!!

34. Do you make friends easily? Acquaintences, yes, friends, no.

Okay, I did it! Now I tag Brynn, Shanti, and Amy S.!

Our Cute Kids

Make a postcard - it's easy!

It only took me 3 months, but I finally got the kids pictures taken together.

Easter at Grandma Ainge's house

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

Being a kid rocks!

All I can say is that I miss being a kid. One of my favorite things to do as a kid was ride a mattress or sleeping bag down the stairs. There are some things that kids should get to experience, no matter how dangerous or stupid they are.

When we were at Grandma Ainge's house for Easter Madison and her cousins figured out how to turn the treadmill on. They rode it for quite a while and had so much fun!

Chewing gum

We went to the park the other day and Madison had gum in her mouth. She asked me for a drink and then wanted me to hold her gum. I asked her if she was finished with it and she said no. I looked at her, puzzled, and told her that she could drink with gum in her mouth. She looked up at me with this amazed face and said, "But mom, it will get hard." It sounded so grown up and just made me laugh. Not much gets by her.

Easter Carnival

Madison looks forward to the carnivals at our rec center because she LOVES the ferris wheel. She gets that from her daddy, he loves rides! She and her little friends rode it over and over and over making it well worth the few dollars entry fee.

My happy little guy!

I was trying to get a picture of him rolling over. He will only do it when we are not looking. I spent about 45 minutes the other day holding my camera waiting for him to get fed up enough to roll over. No such luck, but I did finally get a great shot of his smile. He is so happy all the time and just loves to giggle.

Surgery Day

Madison had her surgery today. She got her Tonsils and Adenoids out, her ears drained and her blood vessels in her nose shrunk. She did so well, and has been such a trooper. She is up and running around tonite and has been doing so well.

I snapped a few pictures before she went in, I didn't get any afterwards. I will get some tomorrow. I think she is going to end up with some black eyes :) I just think she looks so cute in these.

The learning games

Here is a picture of Madison teaching Hunter how to roll over. He still hasn't gotten the hang of it, but it was sooo cute. Right now she is trying to get him to say Mama, dada, and Madison.

Before he was born we would ask Madison if she was excited for a little brother. She would say yes, and then proceed to let us know what she was going to teach him. "Mommy I am going to teach baby Hunter how to eat, read stories, play with (blank) toy, sing songs, etc." It was so sweet.

Hangin' with the guys!

This picture is an older one, but one of my favorites. Last year during March Madness one of my sisters got married. Brian, Phil, Dad and Ryan were waiting for the reception to start and they found a TV. Luckily someone was there with a camera. Even the flash couldn't distract them from the "Important Event" of the evening. Sorry Alyssa!

At least they did stay for the entire reception, only a few sneak peaks at the scores mixed in.

Learnin' the moves

This is awesome! My youngest two sisters babysat Madison one night while we were in Memphis. She gets bored easily and often gets in to trouble as a result. They came up with the idea to teach her the Soulja boy dance. I guess Madison didn't think I would like that, so on the video she says "My mommy's gonna hate this!" I don't usually let my 3 year old listen to rap, but come on, this is so fun!

Now when the song comes on the radio she won't let me change the station. Thanks Ariane and Allie!

Squeaky clean

While we were in Memphis, Hunter got to take a bath in the sink. Madison was so jealous that she ended up getting to take one too. She barely fit, but she got clean.

She has already been hit by the oldest child curse of being unable to decide if she wants to be a baby again or the mom. It's hard being the oldest!

Our little mommy-in-training

Some days Madison just wants to be the mom of the house. The other day we were trying to get out the door to run some errands. She was adamant about taking her "baby" Dydi. She made sure she got the carseat, a burp cloth, and a bottle for her doll. Then, in the car she got so upset that there was not a seat next to her for the carrier. We compromised and put the carrier on the floor next to her so she could take care of her "baby."

When we got to the store she wanted to take everything in just like I do for Hunter, I was not so excited about that. We compromised again and I carried Hunter in the baby carrier/sling thingy and Madison got to sit in the front of the cart and hold her baby. It was an interesting errand day for us, but, at least I got the pictures to go with it.

I must say, the favorite part of this picture for me is how her baby is falling out of the carrier and the burp cloth is over the face. As a disclaimer-I do not do this to Hunter! He is always strapped in correctly and I never put anything over his face.

Memphis

Our Family went to Memphis for the Memphis vs. Tennessee basketball game. Go Tigers! Unfortunately they lost the game :( But, we had a great time. We went to a Hockey game, a Grizzly's game, and the Memphis game. Madison also got to meet her cousin Brent from Minnesota. She absolutely fell in love with him. She wanted to sit by him and on him whenever he was around.

Rock on!

Ryan and I have taught Madison "Rock On." So now when fun songs come on she makes the little hand signs and bops her head. It makes it so much fun in the car!

Look how big I am!

This is our little Hunter. I realized so many of my past posts have been about Madison and I don't want to ignore my favorite guy in the world.

Hunter is 3 months old now and such a joy. He only cries when he is hungry or ready to go in his bed for naptime (Iknow, I know, I am spoiled-I have the best kids in the world). He hasn't rolled over yet, but he has mastered spit bubbles. They are his favorite pasttime.

He loves his little activity chair, he LOVES to stand up. He can get it to play music and moves the teeter totter bears. His other favorite thing is sucking his hand and/or thumb. He is not too particular. It is soo cute right now!

He practices his smile at every opportunity, and has already figured out flirting. He just started giggling, and it is the sweetest sound.

Look how sweet she is!

Madison is obsessed with sleeping on the floor. For weeks she would take all of her blankets and pillows off of her bed and make one on the floor. Every morning we would go in and she would be sprawled out with all of her bed items. I finally asked her why she would not sleep on her bed. She answered me so grown up, "But mommy, I can't see the hall light from my bed." Go figure. I moved her bed to the middle of the room and now she sleeps soundly on a mattress.

Daddy Daughter time

Madison and her Daddy have a special bond. All day long she asks me when he is coming home. She asks to call him at work all the time, she finally got tired of hearing no, so she has started "texting" him during the day. Texting her daddy consists of her grabbing whatever phone is nearby and pushing all the buttons as fast as she can before I can get to her and grab it away. It is sweet, but I just keep waiting for the day when she unknowingly gets that one call through to India.

Their favorite thing to do together is go to Burger King. Any time I have something on a weeknight or Saturday morning they go and eat and Madison gets to play. A few Saturday's ago she wanted to go so bad, but I was with them. She looked at Ryan and said to him, "Daddy, how about we go to Burger King and mommy can stay home."

What is your favorite story of Madison?

This is Aunna's favorite picture of her and Madison. It was taken on Navy Pier in Chicago last summer. We were standing on the Pier waiting to get on the Ferris Wheel and Aunna, Madison and Ariane were singing "Big Girls Don't Cry". It was such a sweet memory of them together.

Let me know what your favorite memory is so I can put the story down for her.

Dressing up

Madison has figured out the joys of dressing up. She even ropes her little friends in to it. They all fight over the "Doctor" costume-thanks Uncle Phil for the scrubs- and then they play doctor. They figured out how to split them up-one gets the top and the other the bottoms. That way they can both be the doctor and they share the doctor bag of toys. But, when there are three kids, one ends up as the patient. It is fun to watch them, and their favorite doctor bag item is the shot. Figure that one out.....

All about music

Madison LOVES, LOVES, LOVES music. When we are in the car she sings and dances to the songs that come on. She can identify most of the popular songs by title and artist-quite impressive for a 3 year old.

The other day I was listening to her play with some of her dolls and all of a sudden she starts singing "Big girls don't cry" to them. It was the funniest thing ever! I had to call Ryan right away to tell him the story.

Right now she loves Pink, Fergie, All American Rejects, Avril and of course all things American Idol. The singers finish their performance and she looks over at us all serious and says "That was a good song choice for them." Then, the judges say the same things! She just loves music.

Yesterday, I was trying to teach her how to say Goo Goo Dolls, she quite likes their new single, but she wants to call them Gooby Dolls. Owell.....

She recently learned how to do the Ariel song from The Little Mermaid, so when I put her down for her naps and nighttimes she sings, on the top of her lungs, the song when Ariel loses her voice to Ursela.

Sleeping

I was walking by Hunter one day and noticed that he had fallen asleep in his bouncy chair. Then I noticed that his arms were out in front of him. I couldn't help but laugh, and then I grabbed the camera. I wish the picture showed how much his arms were sticking out.

Helping with Christmas Bags

This is one of my favorite pictures of Madison. She looks so grown up, and it shows her little personality. She is such a little mom. She tries to take care of Hunter and is always trying to help cook dinner and goes "shopping" around our house. She always has her "babies" around to feed and bathe and change. Her favorite toy right now is her stroller, she packs so much on it and goes around everywhere with it. She named her babies Cookie Monster and Dydi. She says they are her little sisters.

My grandfather passed away when Hunter was 5 hours old, so we shipped Madison off to Ryan's parents house and I took Hunter up to brave the wilds of a Minnesota winter. They did not receive any snow until the day before we arrived and we had a crazy time driving up to northern MN for the funeral. Thankfully, our cousin Brent was willing to chauffer us around. We were barely able to see the entire drive. But, most of my family was able to meet Hunter when he was barely over a week old.

So, after Hunter was born, Madison came to the hospital to see us. She came in the room, jumped up on my bed and started talking to me. It was the craziest thing, Hunter looked right over at her with this look of "I know exactly who you are, you are my big sister." I think he was so used to hearing her voice that he had to put a face to it.

Waiting to be a big sister

The last month of pregnancy I got so tired of Madison asking when Hunter was coming. I was on the phone with one of my sisters and she recommended making a countdown of some sort for her. So, thank you Amily for your idea, here is what we did. Every day Madison got to tear off one loop on the chain and we told her that when they were all gone Hunter would be here. She was so excited she wanted to tear them all off at one time, or she would ask in the morning, before nap time, after nap time, and of course, before bedtime. She was just so excited for a little brother.

Reading time

This is one of my favorite pictures of the kids together. I was trying to get dinner ready and Hunter was crying, Madison kept telling me that he was hungry, but I had to finish what I was doing. So, all on her own, Madison goes and picks out some books, sits down by Hunter and starts to read to him. Within 30 seconds he had calmed down and was listening intently to her. It was so sweet I had to get a picture of it.