GO JAZZ GO!!!

Every year Uncle Kaleb gets Jake the biggest,

coolest, most awesome toy for Christmas. Two years ago it was a Nerf gun (and all the grown men spent the rest of the night chasing each other around the house shooting each other....), last year it was a robotic dinosaur, this year it was an amazing tool bench with all kind of tools and pieces to build things with. And as if that wasn't enough he also took Jake to his very first Jazz game! Jake has really gotten into watching basketball with his dad, he loves to tell us the scores and how much the Jazz are winning or losing by (his math skills blow my mind). When Kaleb told him last night that they were going to the game at the "Jazz Arena" Jake was so excited he couldn't even breathe for a moment. His eyes got bigger and bigger, his jaw dropped, and his whole little body was quivering in excitement! "Mom! I get to go to the Jazz game!!!" So tonight Brian and Jake went to the game with Kaleb and Liz, and they had a great time! They said he couldn't take his eyes off the Jumbo Tron, even though they were sitting on the eighth row center court! And he got a brand new Jazz shirt at the game, so now he told me I have to call him AK47 when he wears it. It was an experience he'll never forget, Thanks Uncle Kaleb!

Merry Christmas to all....

We had a great Christmas this year! These kids were totally spoiled by both sides of the family, who knows where we are going to put all the cool new toys, books, games and clothes they got. It was also a great time to pause and reflect on how important our families have been in helping us through the tough times this year. So this is just a small way to say.... THANK YOU!!!

Christmas Lights

Tonight we went to see the lights at Temple Square with our family. Jake is loving all the holiday decorations people put on their houses this year, so he was really excited about going to see the lights. He said that their were about "a hundred million thousand" lights on the trees. And his favorite thing about going to Temple Square and seeing the lights was.... "the red ones." So, there you go. He has started a new thing as we are driving around, when ever we pass someone who has a lot of lights on their house he says, "Oh what a heavenly light." (If you've never seen A Tuna Christmas you really should....) After the lights we went back to Pa Dave and Mima Kim's for hot chocolate and cookies. All in all, a very enjoyable holiday outing.

Pillow Fight!

They say a picture's worth a thousand words, so I think this one just about says it all. Well, and this one too.... (just ignore Jake's eyes, he really isn't possessed!)

Family Fun Day!

On Saturday we decided to take a day and just go play as a family. It was a lot of fun, we went to Discovery Gateway (the new children's museum) and saw the Robots exhibit where they had all kinds of neat displays about how they made the movie and how robots work in real life. Jake loved it. The picture of Jake and Brian is where you can "ride" the traveling ball like Roddy and Fender do in Robot City. They show that clip from the movie and the seat vibrates and clangs so it feels a little like you're moving. The kids loved it! You can also control a real robotic arm to make it pick up different shaped block, play with building block type things that have moving parts when you plug it into a power source so you can build your own robot, and a place where you can line up dominos and knock them down like Big Weld does in the movie. So cool! And we also spent time in the Kid's Eye View area, Jake was thrilled with the climbing wall. Finally, he could climb and jump around as much as he wanted without having us yell at him to get down. And Evie loved to splash around in the water. After all that playing we went and got some lunch and then met up with our friends, Dinee and Tay (and Libby too!), and saw Bee Movie. It was Evie's first movie in a theater and we weren't too sure how it would go, but she snuggled right up on my lap, ate a few pieces of popcorn, and went to sleep within the first 10 min. She didn't wake up until the end credits, perfect timing! After the movie we came home and all ordered some pizza and watched the Jazz game. Go Jazz! Jake loves to watch the games, especially when Dinee and Tay come over. His favorite part is to count down the shot clock out loud. What a nut. And what a great family fun day!

Happy Halloween!

On A Lighter Note....

This is what happens when your baby stays up all night. She was so tired at nap time that she couldn't finish stretching, she slept with her arms in the air for a half an hour.

And this is what happens when you let a one year old feed herself spagetti for dinner.... yum.

Mima Kim

Today has been a really hard day. I haven't been sleeping well because Evie has been sick, and so she is up and down all night. I was waking up from a nap when my mom called and asked how the baby was doing and if they could watch Jake for the afternoon. I said that would be great (because who in their right-mind is going to turn down free baby-sitting?) What I didn't know is that my parents were on their way home from a doctor's appt. at the Huntsman Cancer institute. My mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer almost three years ago and has gone through several major surgeries and two 6 month courses of chemotherapy. A couple of days ago she had a routine check-up and screening, and the outcome is that the cancer is back. And the reality of the situation is that she really doesn't have that much time left. Six months to a year. She can say that without crying, I still can't. I know that she will be going home to be with all our loved ones who have gone before, her father, Grandma and Grandpa Madsen, Aunt Lynne. (Oh! I just had this mental image of her and Aunt Lynne reuniting, who do you think will stop talking first?)
But then I look at my babies and I am so sad that they won't have more time with her. And how do I explain to my sweet boy who prays every day that, "... Mima can get better from her cancer and that Daddy's legs will get strong again." that our prayers aren't always answered the way we want them to be. How do I prepare him for this separation with out overwhelming his 4-year old emotions. How do I answer his question, "Mommy, why are you sad?" I have never felt so overwhelmed as a mother, to be able to help him understand this life and the next one feels so daunting.
Mom- I want you to know that anything I do good as a parent is because of how I was parented. "Turning into my mother" wouldn't be such a bad thing for me. You are and always have been one of my best friends. Thank you for raising me to be capable of being a wife and mother to the best of my abilities. And thank you for being such a wonderful grandmother, there is a reason that Jake wants to spend every friday night at your house. We love you Mima!

Four Generations and Forever.

The Many Faces of Evie

My Little Imp...

I couldn't believe that I actually caught this face with the camera. She was laughing at herself for running away with Taylor's flip-flops. She is such a little tease. She loves to run away from us when she has things she shouldn't. Usually she is looking over her shoulder to see if we are going to catch her, until she runs into the wall.

Check out my Slide Show!

I am just trying out this new program, so I thought it would be fun to show all the great pictures of Tay and Jake splashing in puddles! I'm sure there will be many more slide shows to come.

Shoes and Socks!

So I know I didn't post for awhile there, and I don't have a good excuse either because as a stay-at-home mom I do have countless hours of leisure time on my hands. I guess I was too busy soaking in a bubble bath and eating bon-bons. (snort!) But anyhow life just goes ticking on around here. Jake has a month of preschool under his hat now and just keeps cracking us up. His latest mania is anything to do with ninjas (thank you Taylor) and I highly suggest asking him to do some ninja moves for you if you get the chance. Hilarious. Except that it also entails much bouncing on and off furniture and hanging off of anything that holds still long enough. I just hold my breath and hope he doesn't kill himself or break anything.

Evie just turned 14 months and her favorite things at the moment are anything to do with feet! Shoes, it's one of the few actual words she says. Well, she pronounces it more like, "shh-s" but it's clear what she means. Everyday she empties the little cupboard where we keep Jake's shoes and socks and carries them all over the house. For awhile there, every time we were getting ready to go somewhere Jake couldn't ever find his shoes. I was getting pretty upset with him for not putting them away in the right place, then I realized that mine were going missing too. And she will only wear one at a time so she can still walk around, so they can end up anywhere!

She is pretty excited about these socks too. I made this pair for myself and had enough yarn left over to make her some too. I finished her first one today and am starting the second one, the nice thing is they work up really quickly so maybe by the weekend we can have a mother-daughter sock day!

I just wanted to say thanks to you all for reading and when you post comments, because no mom can ever hear enough how cute her kids are, right? :)

Also in response to Bianca, those jammies are Carter's brand and I got them at Costo a few months ago. I couldn't resist. We love them too, whenever she wears them Brian calls her his "little chocolate baby".

Jacob was reading a book that grandma-great gave him when Evie was born called, "I'm a Big Brother!" He wanted to copy all the pictures in the book that show the little boy helping with the new baby. So that night he asked if he could give Evie her bottle and get her to sleep. I thought she would fight him, but she just snuggled up to him and fell asleep. After I put her to bed Jake told me that he would give her her bottle every time from now on. He is such a good helper.

How cute is this? Girls are sooo

much fun. We like to play beauty parlor. I wish that I had a picture this morning, because this so did not work. She pulled them all out before she fell asleep apparently, except for one smack in the back of her head. One cute curl and the rest of her hair was standing up all over her head. Like she'd stuck her finger in an outlet or something!

Can Jake Come Out and Play?

This afternoon a big rainstorm came through right around lunchtime. While we were eating there was a knock on the door, it was our friend Taylor. (They live in the same apartment complex, about 50 ft. away) He had come down to see if Jake could come out in the rain and stomp puddles with him. Jake wasn't too sure at first because I sent him out without shoes, and I never let him outside without shoes. But he quickly got the hang of it. Then they went around back and found the biggest puddle of all. (I'll leave it up to you to decide who is the biggest kid of all....)

The 1st Day of Preschool

Well, it's official. Jake is in preschool! I can't believe I have a child old enough to go to school. It was a pretty exciting day for us although it started out kind of rough. Jake announced in the shower that he wasn't going to school today. And I announced right back that he was. Then he said that he didn't feel well (so apparently kids come hard-wired to fib about being sick to get out of school). And I said he was still going. We took some pictures before we left to document this momentous occasion, then on the way over he said that he couldn't go to school because he needed to run some errands. I asked what errands and he said he needed to go the video store. I reminded him that we hadn't brought any videos with us to exchange and that he still hadn't watched the last one we'd rented. He said, "Oh, yeah...." and then was deep in thought for a moment. Then he said in a tone of profound regret, "Mom, I can't go to school today because we need to go pay some bills." I laughed as we pulled up and promised to stay for a few minutes with him until he got settled. He was a little teary when I left (and no, I actually didn't get weepy at all, just sort of an "oh" moment) and I was waiting as I walked out to the car for him to come running out, crying, after me. But no problems. Then two and a half hours later we went to pick him up. He got a sticker for behaving well and following the rules. He couldn't wait to show me his homework paper, which is to practice writing his name. He told me that they had graham crackers for snack time and that there is a cool play set in the backyard that has a telescope on it and there are 5 boys and 5 girls in his class and that soon he can take something for show-and-tell, and he told me all this pretty much in one breath. As we drove off he asked, "Is tomorrow a school day?" I think he liked it.

The other day I gave Evie a handful of these snacks, that are basically baby cheetos, when I came back in the room this is how she was holding them. I don't know where she learned this, but I hope she unlearns it soon!

I'm am soooooo sick of listening to my son arguing! With me, his dad, even his toys if no one else is talking to him at the moment. Everything has to be a negotiation or a discussion with him. (And yes, I have tried the "because I'm the mom and I said so!" routine.) Tonight we had to go gas up the cars and wash my jeep because the boys went "four-wheeling" this weekend. (That means they drove in the mountains for awhile, which is all this nervous mommy allows.) We also stopped by the video store which took much too long because I wouldn't allow Jake to rent any of the video games they had in stock. As we got in the car he asked what was for dinner and when I told him, his immediate response was to start complaining that he didn't like it and wasn't going to eat it. So I flagged down my husband and moved Jake to his car, because I was trying really hard to not lose it. The last stop was the car wash and while Brian washed the jeep I waited in his car with the kids. As soon as I got in with the baby, Jake started by saying, "Mom, I'm sorry I made you mad, buuuuut.... you see, I just really don't like that food and it doesn't taste good and I have a cold still and that's why it doesn't taste that good to me...." (You understand if you've ever had a conversation with a four-year old, they speak in run on sentences.) I told him he should probably stop talking because he was already on my crap list. When we left the car wash Jake told his dad that I wouldn't let him talk to me because he was complaining and he was "already on my crap list". So I apologize in advance if my son ever tells you you're on his "crap list", that was probably not a concept I should have introduced him to. Hey at least I didn't swear....

This morning Jake and I were watching the food network and as they panned across a bunch of chefs dressed in traditional white aprons and chef's hats Jake said, "Look mom, they're wearing pants on their heads!" His observations of the world always crack me up. Once, when he was 2 years old, we stopped to gas up our car. My husband got out to pump the gas while we waited in the car. Jake was listening very intently, then he looked at me with a worried expression and asked, "Mommy, is Daddy peeing on the jeep?!"

Happy Birthday to Evie! She just turned one. We had a little party with some friends and family. The most exciting part of the whole night was that she took her 1st steps and all the grandparents were there to see it! But she is a stubborn little thing, she could walk if she wanted to... but she doesn't. She does however like to climb. We had to keep piling totes and furniture to try to corral her in the living room, as you can see from this picture the bar stools didn't work too well. She kept getting inside them and couldn't figure out how to get out!

This is one of Jake's favorite games, he loves to pretend to cook. He makes up very interesting dishes and insists that we all taste them. I love listening to him standing at his stove and yelling, "BAM! Let's kick it up a notch!"

What, you may be asking, is that on his head? My sister and cousin came over to hem some pants (the curse of our short genes). That is a part of a pant leg that to his imagination looks like a chef's hat. I love watching children play make-believe.

I love this age! My daughter, Evie, is 11 months and is just starting to show off her definate personality. She pulls the funniest faces all the time. She never just talks to us, she yells! My favorite is when she yells, "DAD!" No mama and dada for her, it's been dad, ma, ba.... you get the idea. Her favorite word at the moment is "that". She points and says "that" over and over until I figure out what she wants (an inherited trait she got from my dad, just ask my mom....). She also loves to play with her big brother. Tonight we were learning parts of the face, "Where's mommy's nose? Where's mommy's nose?" And she got it! What a smartie pants. Well, Jake wasn't about to be left out of the action. When I would "find" Evie's nose he would say, "Oh, good mommy!" like you would to a dog. Then he wanted Evie to find his nose, which she did. By sticking her finger up his nostril.... and there is nothing as funny to a 4 year old as a finger up the nose. He kept sticking his face in front of her and she kept sticking her finger up his nose.... and he would laugh hysterically, and Evie would giggle. I love listening to my kids laughing. Because if they aren't laughing, they are probably crying.

Yesterday afternoon Jake came out of his room wearing this ensemble and asked me to "knid" him some mittens. I think I may have the air conditioning turned up a little too much..... (being that it is summer in Utah and the temperatures are averaging in the 90's!)

On another note I did find the 5th alien when I was folding the laundry. Fortunately he did not melt and weathered his misadventure with only a slightly misshapen head. My ego is slightly more bruised from the repeated I told you so's from my child. What can I say? He was right.