Look Who's 7!!!

Our sweet Madlyn turned 7 on Saturday, April 10. Of course Jeff & I have mentioned several times in the past few days that "we can't believe it's already been 7 years" and that "she is growing up so quickly". Just a few facts about Madlyn's birth:

• her due date was April 4, I was induced 5 days later on April 9
• she was born at 4:34 am on Thursday, April 10
• she is our lightest baby so far at 8 lbs. 8 oz.
• she had a little bit of brownish/reddish hair in the back
• she looked like her Grandpa Jim (she was even called a "Jimlet" by one family friend)
• since I had been awake for a couple of days straight and Madlyn wasn't sleeping, I asked the nurse to take her to the nursery for a few hours our first night. They were begging me to take her back because she pretty much didn't sleep all night for them and hated the swing. I'm grateful I got the sleep I did though because our first year together lacked greatly in the sleep department:)

Mads got her ears pierced on Saturday - whoo hoo! She was very excited but got quite nervous when it was time. She was glad to have her cousin Taylor there with her for moral support:)

Funny thing, Madlyn keeps asking me if she looks like she's 8. I tell her that "no, you look like you're 7". She likes Cole's answer better than mine because he told her that she looks like she's 11. It's so funny to me how badly she wants to grow up...reminds me of someone else!

Oh, can you see her two missing front teeth? She was very happy to lose her 2nd front tooth and hopes she can sing "All I Want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth" when it's Christmas-time! At the rate her teeth grow in, she just might be able to:)

Mads and the birthday cake

Silly girl!

Always the poser:)

So Maddie's cousin Taylor surprised her by coming down from Dallas on Friday afternoon and was here when she got home from school. She was actually hiding in a big box on our front porch and I told Madlyn to go open it...out popped Taylor! It scared Madlyn but then she was ecstatic! It was so thoughtful of them to come down and we had a great time!

Friday night, we pulled out the camp stove and roasted marshmallows and ate S'mores, played the Wii (Madlyn got a cooking game - I don't think she loves it too much), and stayed up late - much, much too late for the kids:(

Saturday we ate oatmeal for breakfast (Madlyn's request) and then the girls went to Claire's to get ears pierced! In the early afternoon, we went to Subway and then to the park for a picnic and to play. Jeff took Mads & Cole to see the movie "Tooth Fairy" at the dollar theater and then we ate pizza and had birthday cake before rushing off to bed!

At dinner we talked about what we love about Madlyn- Jeff & I said that she is a great big sister, smart, loving, thoughtful, athletic, etc. The boys said that she is nice and lets them sleep in her bed sometimes. I truly think she is about the best big sister that ever was.

Madlyn loved the weekend and all the attention and it was so fun to spoil her! We are so blessed to have her as a daughter and love her dearly. How grateful we are that Heavenly Father decided to send us a girl first, even when we (I) weren't sure what to do with girls:)

Happy Birthday, Madlyn!

aka Mads
Maddie
Madazoa
Hadley Design Group


Oh, so Madlyn had originally requested my "famous peanut butter sandwiches" for her lunch on Saturday and homemade fried rice and orange chicken for dinner. She then changed her mind and wanted chicken pot pie but since we didn't have time on Saturday, I made the pies on Sunday. She is so funny about food and is such a great eater and will eat almost anything! I think I will have to make her some orange chicken soon though - that sounds yummy!

We're Still Kickin'...Barely

So I really have been wanting to put some pictures up but I'm just too tired tonight. I think we keep getting busier every day. Here's a little glimpse of what we've been up to lately:

• potty training Cadeson - the first couple of days were a little rough but since then he's been a champ! As long as his toilet is in the living room and not the bathroom, he does great! He has gone at restaurants, church, stores, museum, etc. without any problems - yay! It is so nice to only have one in diapers these days!
• school, school, and more school - Jeff started his MBA program this semester and I am slowly plugging away at my undergrad. This semester I've been taking a History course about Africa, which is really interesting. Everything is winding down in the next week or two; BUT since I'm a HUGE procrastinator, that means everything starts spinning faster and faster:) I have to read a couple of books, research & write a 10-page research paper, take several quizzes, and take midterm & final exams - all before April 6. Jeff has managed to be much more successful in keeping on top of his classes...I love that quality about him.
• church stuff - our church callings are keeping us quite busy but we are loving what we do. This week I am picking up an order at the home storage center for my ward and then helping everyone get it canned throughout the next week or two. It is fun being involved with the ward's food storage efforts and my kids really like it too. When we canned dry milk a couple of months ago, my boys especially loved it. They wanted to smell it, they wanted me to mix some up for them, they wanted to drink it warm - yuck!

OK, so I know there's more that we've been doing because I feel like I have been pulled in about a million directions for the past couple of months, but for right now I can't think of anything else. We are happy and LOVING each other and I feel so blessed:)

An Introduction

Almost 3 years ago, this blog was created. One of my main reasons for starting a blog in the first place was to give me an outlet to write. It quickly turned into a diary of our family life, which sometimes and sometimes does not includes pictures:) I love that I have such a way to share our daily lives with our loved ones but it is not very often that I feel like I have done 'good writing' in the process.

My heart yearns to write. I want to write about what's in my mind, and in my heart. What I'm working toward and how I'm hopefully getting better every day. But I don't necessarily want this writing to share the same pages as pictures of my lovelies and stories of their funny-isms. So for those of you who might be interested, I have started a new blog dedicated to me...and whatever it is I feel like saying. I can't promise you'll love it or even like it, but I know I'll be having fun!

So come on over to Blondie and say hi! I'll be happy to have you!

Brigham's Graduation Weekend

For Valentine's Day, I was the happy recipient of a plane ticket to Iowa so that I could visit my sister & attend her husband's graduation from Chiropractic School. Jeff & his sister Lyssa (who watched our kids for a day & hosted them all for another day) so sweetly provided the opportunity for me to go sans kids and it was a pretty monumental event for me. I was super-duper excited to see my sister and her family, and I was so happy that it worked out for me to be there to support Brig on his big day.

Brigham's parents & siblings & a niece & nephew made the trip from AZ and so we all hung out together for the weekend. Aside from the graduation, we played a little Rock Band and Settlers, watched some Olympics, ate some of Milla's yummy sweet pork burritos, did YogaX (from P90X), visited the campus, hung out at the mall, shared one bathroom, watched late movies, slept in, and overall enjoyed a very relaxing and fun weekend.

Here are just a few pictures that turned out halfway decent from my camera. Note to self: it might be time to invest in a new camera.

this is where graduation was held - it was a really awesome old building and on the floor to the left was an organ and an organist played all the prelude & processional music - kind of eerie (or maybe it was just the choice of music)

all over the buildings were different quotes - it was so fun to read them all as we walked around. this one by Thoreau is one of my favorites - it reminded me of a few conversations I've had with Milla about making 'conscious decisions'. Milla is one wise woman:)

Here is the graduate - man, we are so proud of Brigham, I mean Dr. Adams. He graduated with his Bachelor's Degree and his Doctor of Chiropractic at the same time so he has been going to school for about 10 years and this is his first graduation ceremony. He has worked so hard and will be a great chiropractor! (Oh wait, he already is!)

another quote that I liked. B.J. is the founder of the school - B.J. Palmer. I didn't get any pictures of it but there was a huge collection of skulls, spines, and other such skeletal pieces that B.J. had acquired. It was very interesting to see but just a little bit morbid for my taste.

And here's the proud family (minus Parks who stayed with a neighbor for graduation). Camilla, Layton, & Parks have also worked so hard to make this day possible - I'm so excited for them all! Oh, and if it looks a tad chilly outside...that's because it was...I had to pull out my good ol' Ricks College coat to keep from freezing my hiney off!

Some fun/funny memories from the weekend:

hanging out with my sister & chatting
getting to see Brigham's graduation
getting a massage from my massage therapist sister
getting an adjustment from my chiropractor brother-in-law
playing Rock Band and rockin' it on the drums
asking Brig's friend who is from Canada if it is "super cold there" and him answering, "super-duper cold" (I think I left half of my brain at home with my family)
playing with Parks & hearing Layt read to us
eating my sister's yummy french toast
planning outfits with the girls
sleeping in as late as I wanted
hearing the girl at Subway tell a customer that "we don't have 4 inch subs...we just take a footlong and cut it into three pieces" (I haven't laughed so hard in a long time)
eating Ben & Jerry's at the airport
Whitey's ice cream in Davenport

It was such a great weekend and I'm so glad I could go - thanks Adams' for the fun time!

Cutest Kids Ever

Last night our company left - we were lucky enough to have Jeff's mom & his sister Noelle and her sweet baby Sabrina come visit for a couple of days - and we were a little bit sad. So we did what any good parents would do and set up the tent for an indoor campout! That got the kids' minds off of our lonely house and onto something fun & exciting. We got them all snuggled up with their sleeping bags inside the tent and we left to start getting ready for bed. Funny thing happened though; when I checked on them later, Madlyn was nice & cozy...in her bed. Cade was curled up tight...in his bed. Cole was the only one left in the tent and he slept there all night. I guess Mads & Cade aren't too big on camping:) They were so cute about it though and I just had to take some pictures!

Don't you just love the kids' jammie shirts? Mesa Bank was good for something, right?! j/k

I just thought this was a cute picture of Cade - he is pretty funny. Oh, I took him for his 3-yr. checkup on Friday and he weighed 31 pounds. I got to thinking about it and realized that he has only gained about 12 pounds since he was 4 months old. So either he is just small or else he was really huge when he was 4 months. I'm guessing it was the latter!

This boy just makes me smile! He has the funniest facial expressions and vocals! He just loves being a part of the action and thinks he is just as old as the rest of us! Tonight he came up to me and was telling me something and pointing. So I followed him to our front entryway to a closet. He had pulled the vacuum out and started jabbering...I guessed that he wanted me to vacuum. Well, it needed done so I plugged it in and started vacuuming. He lit up and did what he always does - he ran to the vacuum, stood right in front of it and laughed. He's been watching the boys who like me to chase them with the vacuum and I guess this is his little variation on that same concept:)

Seriously, don't you want to just eat him up?

OK so the tent thing was really not a good idea. We left it up today and let them try sleeping there again. Jeff & I have been in our room for over an hour and I just went to check on them because they started being noisy. The light was on and they had a whole party goin' on in there. Toys, cookies from FHE, all kinds of fun stuff! And Cade is seriously so funny. Whenever you ask him to get in bed, he will stand there (or walk super slowly) and say, "I'm gooooo-ing. I'm goooooo-ing." It is so funny. As I type, he is trying to sneak into our room like a puma:) He thinks that if he is on his hands & knees, I won't see him. Speaking of pumas, the other day Cade was looking at a BYU Cougars hat that we have. He observed, "Look Mom! It's a white puma!" "Cade, do you know what a white puma is called? (really it was tan but he doesn't know the difference) It is called a cougar." "No, Mom. Santa is a cougar. The puma is not a cougar." It took me a minute to figure out what in the world he was talking about but then I remembered one of his favorite Christmas movies is "Mr. Krueger's Christmas". Santa Claus, cougars, pumas....they're all connected!

Well that's it for now! I guess it's time for me to work on some other things - I've been procrastinating long enough!

"Since it's My Birthday"

Yesterday we celebrated my sweet Cadeson Glen's 3rd birthday. Wow! It feels like yesterday I was walking around my neighborhood trying to go into labor with him. And jumping on the Slaters' trampoline, and bouncing on my exercise ball, and all the other things I did to try to induce labor, hehe.

Yesterday morning when Cade woke up (as usual, he was the first one), we presented him with his first present: a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch:) He was pretty excited and proceeded to eat several bowls for his breakfast. I had to teach Cole's preschool from 9-12 so poor Cade didn't get much birthday attention for those hours. He did join in the preschool fun a little...and distracted us all a lot. At a couple of points, he tackled Cole and they wrestled on the floor for a bit. I think he just wanted Mom to remember whose birthday it was:) He liked the soft pretzels we made into the letter "x" for snacktime and then when preschool was over we had Ramen noodles for lunch.

After lunch, I pulled out some cakes I had made & frozen last week and proceeded to make a very amateur-looking race track cake. The perfectionist in me lasted about a second, especially when I was halfway through frosting and decided my frosting was too thick (too late now) and when I couldn't find the tip I wanted to use for piping the stripes and when I chose not to use the blender for the Oreo race track (never wake a sleeping child) and couldn't figure out another good way to crush them. Oh well. Cade was very excited for his cake and that is definitely all that matters to me.

When Jeff got home, we ate homemade mac & cheese and edamame for dinner (this kid is pretty easy to please) and talked about the reasons why we all love Cade. Maddie said that she loves him because he is a good brother and because he makes her laugh. Cole said that he is a good brother and he plays with him...sometimes. Lane plead the fifth. I said that Cade is a good basketball player, is smart, and gives the best hugs around. Jeff said "That's what I was going to say." He said other things too but I can't remember what they were - sorry honey. We also talked about the day Cade was born - how we had to drive to Grandma's house kind of early in the morning and how Mom was "squealing" in the front seat (quote from Maddie - I promise you, I did not squeal. I barely made a sound. Even when we made it to the hospital & it was discovered that I was VERY far progressed, nobody could have guessed it). How Maddie came up with the name Cade (in her mind, yes...in reality, no:) ) and how we didn't know he was a boy or a girl until he was born, and how he was a big baby, 9 lbs. 4 oz. How much we loved him and were so excited to have him in our family, and how good of a baby he was.

Cade then opened his presents and when he got a plastic bowling set, his eyes got wide and he exclaimed in his cute high-pitched voice, "Oh! I love this!" He said the same thing when he saw the picture my mom had drawn of him playing basketball. "Oh! I love it!" It was the darlingest thing. I know that's not a word but I'm a mom here, not the grammar police.

Cade spent some of the evening watching part of the movie "Cars". "Mom, I told you that we had it!" - again in his cute high-pitched voice. (Ours got lost and we just recorded it on TV the other night and surprised him with getting to watch it for his birthday).

Cade's 3rd birthday ended with him watching country music videos on the computer with his daddy (one of which I heard him singing this morning - "blow, blow, Seminole wind") and then lying down next to him and getting tickles to lull him into dreamland. What a lucky boy. And what a special dad.

I love my Cade boy. He is so smart, funny, sweet, creative, cuddly, athletic, and good-hearted. With just a dash of mischievous and feisty thrown in for good measure. I'm so happy he decided to join our family 3 years ago; he was definitely worth the wait*.



*For those who don't know, my labor with Cade is the only one for me that was not induced...but it was 9 days past his due date. Those were some of the most agonizing & excruciating days of my life. But I think his labor story is my favorite because it was so super exciting to finally be experiencing labor on my own. And the sweet baby I got at the end of it all was the icing on the cake.

Once there was a Snowman...Texas Style

Thursday night, Jeff's sister Lyssa & her children stopped at our house on their way home from San Antonio for a little sleepover. It was such a fun way to break up our week just a little bit and relax from daily pressures. While they were here, they found out that their school was cancelled for Friday because of all the snow the Dallas area was getting; that meant they didn't have to rush home early the next morning to make it back for school - yay! We were all a little bummed though because the snowfall hadn't been too impressive here in Hewitt so we knew school would be in session for Mads.

Jeff went out to start his car Friday morning before work and came back in & said that it was being announced on the radio that some schools were being delayed 2 hours and that we better check on ours. So we checked the website and sure enough - 2 hour delay!! I thought, "Wow. We must have gotten a lot of snow last night to warrant a snow delay." I looked out the window and the ground was basically sprinkled with snow - I laughed because "There isn't even any snow out there!" But I didn't complain because it meant that we got to take our time eating yummy french toast, playing with our best TX cousins, and making a snowman. OK, it was really just Maddie & Jake who made the snowman, which stood about a foot & a half tall - hehe. Everyone else wimped out and didn't last very long outside. I don't blame them though because we desert Arizonans are not prepared for snow and the kids were using socks to protect their hands from the cold. Maddie said "It was sooooo cold. Me & Jake had to share socks:)" Cute kids.

I love the Dallas Cowboys hat the snowman is sporting - that doesn't mean we're fans or anything (it's Jake's hat) - but I thought it very fitting for our "Texas snowman". (Not that I have anything against the Cowboys either...I'm just an AZ girl:) )

Oh, and when I went to get the newspaper out in the front yard, the headline read, "A SNOWY MESS". Haha. Tell that to all the folks in northern AZ and Washington, D.C. and all the other places where they've been getting snowed in all winter:)

It was such a fun morning - thanks McAleavys for coming to play with us!