An afternoon with the penguins

The kiddos absolutely LOVE the aquarium. They are fascinated by all sea life. It makes me happy because it is one of my very favorite things too. I have to visit every aquarium that I can. Ours here in good old SLC isn't too bad considering we don't really have a coast nearby!

It is so neat to see the kids amazed by all the neat things that they are seeing.

Madilyn is almost as tall as an Emperor penguin!!

It was an extra special trip to the aquarium because Pop Larry came with us! That is definitely a special treat as Pop Larry works so much and misses out on so much.

This face sums up how much fun she had.

One of Cowen's favorite parts was touching the stingrays! They are used to being fed by aquarium visitors so they are super friendly and come right up to little hands. I will never get tired to touching these awesome animals.

The jellyfish are Mad's favorite. She could watch them for hours. Paul loves them too and looked into getting a tank for our home (crazy right?) The cost is a little out of our reach for now anyway. haha.

back and Gma Joan's and Gpa Larry's the kiddos serenaded us with beautiful music :) I love when these 2 sit at the piano...too cute.

and these chubby fingers? Priceless. They are just one of those things that always make me smile.

Sickos (Part 2)

Well 3 weeks or so after the first round of puking, it hit us again :(
We were out shopping on a Saturday afternoon and Madilyn fell asleep in the car so I stayed in the car with the kids while Paul ran in to Best Buy and Lowes....good thing Mad fell asleep because a few minutes after Paul had been gone Cowen started puking...poor little guy. He puked 4 times that afternoon, then slept all night like normal and woke up fine. We felt like we got off easy. Sunday was great and then Monday morning at around 1:30 am Madilyn started crying. Paul went into her room and she puked. We brought her into our room and the poor thing was up all night puking every 15 minutes. It hit her hard. She finally fell asleep around 6 am and got up at 11 am like nothing ever happened. I couldn't believe the energy she had that day....I was dragging after being up all night.
All is well now though.

And then there is the preschool thing.....
The Thursday before Madilyn got sick I attempted to take her to preschool again. I brought her in a little early per the teacher's advice and she was fine until I tried to leave. She threw a fit..crying and screaming. I took her out to the lobby and then one of the other moms came up to me and hugged me and told me that she knew how I was feeling. I was crying at this point and we talked for a little bit.. Then she offered to walk Madilyn to class. I watched her little one while she did this and it worked!! She offered to do it every time if I needed her too. I was amazed at how nice and understanding she was while all the other moms were just starring at us while Madilyn was throwing her fit. It meant the world to me that she was there for me. Well I had to keep Mad home for the next day of preschool as she was still sick...then it was Thanksgiving...then today when Mad didn't even want to get in the car to go to school. It was today that Paul and I said that it isn't worth it anymore. We are taking her out until she is 4. We are going to try other ways to socialize her until then and work on preschool type curriculum at home with her. It isn't worth me crying and Madilyn being so upset. It is puzzling to me how she loved it for over 2 months and now this, but she is only 3.

So many things to say and show.....

I have many things to post, but my laptop is not reading my SD card :( Bummer.
I hope to be back soon!

Hard Day

Yesterday was a pretty hard day for me. Madilyn is REFUSING to go to school...she is fine getting up and getting dressed, even getting out the door and into the car, even walking into the school
but...
when we get to her classroom door she just won't go in. She started not wanting to be left there the 1st week in November and it has progressively gotten worse. The last few times I could get her in the room and then I could go. She would cry for 3o seconds to a minute (her teacher reported) but then would be fine. She has a few moments where she will get worried and want Paul and I, but they are fleeting moments.
Yesterday she wouldn't even go into the room. I ended up just taking her home after 20 minutes of trying to get her to stay.
I am so scared for tomorrow when it is time to go back.
She loved school. What went wrong?
We keep asking her why she doesn't want to go and she says that there are "too many kids" and that she doesn't like it anymore.
Her teacher suggested that we come earlier and get her into class first before the other kids get there and see how that goes. So we will try that. I am crossing my fingers and hoping that we can figure this out. I don't want her to be scared of school and have it affect her whole school career. We just don't want her to be scarred for life and aren't sure the best way to handle it.

On a brighter note (and a super exciting note)....my little sister Jessica got engaged yesterday!!!!
I am so happy for her and so excited to help her plan her big day!
(We have been waiting for this day for a L O N G time)
We can't wait to add Alex to our family! (and hopefully cousins for our babies, but I won't be pushing for that one just yet :) haha

Our First Batch

of beer!
Paul and I had a fun time brewing our first batch of beer. Paul has been interested in brewing beer for a long time now and this year for his bday, he got all the stuff he needed to make it.
He decided on a Holiday/winter ale for his first try.
It is now bubbling away in the basement and will be ready to bottle in a week and 1/2 or so.

Paul and his "masterpiece"
We can't wait to try it!

Parent Day at Mad's Preschool

Last Thursday was parent day at Madilyn's preschool. The parents were invited to come to the last 30 minutes of class to see what the kiddos have been learning so far.

In preschool fashion, we started with a hands on art project.

we made a turkey!

Cowen was pretty in to it all! He loves Mad's preschool and wants to do everything with her. It is pretty sweet, but can be frustrating too.

They did a whole presentation in her classroom with songs and dancing, etc but this is the only pic I got because Paul had to take Cowen out of the room and he happened to have the camera in his pocket :( big fail.
Madilyn was a little shy at first, but she got really into it and warmed up. It was so cute to hear her sing the ABC's, Hey diddle diddle, a toucan song, etc.
All the kids in her class got up and said their name and something that they were thankful for complete with a picture. Madilyn didn't have one to share because she was sick on the day they prepared for this. Her teacher Ms. Law tried to get her to do it on Tuesday, but she refused. (my little girl? What? Really? :) but it was a good lesson for Madilyn.

Madilyn was supposed to go to her tumbling class afterward (as per usual) and they were going to do a presentation for the parents as well, but things went south. Madilyn REFUSED to participate in the class at all. We ended up taking her home and decided to pull her out of her tumbling class. To be replaced with swimming lessons instead. Frustrating day, but I think we learned a lot :)

Friday Morning Photoshoot

Madilyn and Cowen love to sit on the steps. It is kinda funny. Yesterday morning, I decided to take a few pics of them sitting there. They loved it!
Whenever the camera comes out, Cowen smiles so big.
These pics are pretty cool, as I really see "big" kids in these little faces..kind of a flash forward to what they are probably going to look like when they are older :)

my beautiful girl.
those eyes and eyelashes...I could die. She is just so perfect.

and this face...my heart melts and melts. And when you add those blondy curly locks on his head....I mean really...how did I get so lucky to see these faces everyday?

Thanks for the fun photoshoot Mad and Co man!

**Friday Afternoon**

Paul got off work earlier than usual today and along with that awesome surprise he brought home another one with him.....a volcano.

the kids had so much fun with this little volcano! We dyed the "lava" red and then we just had to try yellow and green too.

happy faces!

oh the delight in watching this little thing erupt. We had so much fun with it and the kids were so impressed.

We even had to take a little video of it!

and had to wind down with a puzzle after all the excitement.

We are currently playing with the volcano again and are dying it blue (of course) as that is the only color that we didn't try yesterday.
Madilyn is chatting happily away about our upcoming trip to Moab...this girl loves traveling and I think she has the same wanderlust that Paul and I share :) Wonder how that happened? :)

Later we are putting up our Christmas tree!! Not decorating it just yet, just putting it up. I wanted to enjoy it just a little longer than we usually get too. We have plans of enjoying a glass of wine by it later too :)
Happy Saturday!!

Unconventional Thanksgiving Plans

Moab, Utah

This year we are headed here for Thanksgiving. It is one of our favorites places and we haven't taken the kids here yet.
Paul's parents are coming with us and we are going to hike, relax, eat, and just enjoy.
Pretty excited to eat at Moab Brewery for Thanksgiving dinner!
Going to miss my family, but my sisters are spending Thanksgiving with their significant others families and my parents just don't want to celebrate it at all (what?!)

Here's to new traditions and making memories with our kiddos!

Frustrating!

I have so much to write about and many pics to post, but my laptop is being pretty temperamental and will not read the memory card so that I can upload our newest pictures :(

!!!!YO GABBA GABBA!!!!

My beautiful sister Jaime got Madilyn tickets to go see Yo Gabba Gabba Live back in August for her bday. We have been anticipating this day since August and it was finally here!

Madilyn enjoyed her rootbeer while we waited for the show to start.

and then the show started and Madilyn's eyes looked like this..haha, so cute. She was amazed!

and here they are! Her favorite character is the pink one up front "Foofa"

Madilyn loved when the balloons fell.

can you see the message to Madilyn on the screen?

after the show, we took Madilyn to the Mayan Restaurant. It is a fun restaurant for kids because they have live divers that dive into a huge pool. Madilyn loves watching them and wants to dive in the pool herself :) It was the perfect way to end our special day for Madilyn.

*Gorgeous Fall Weekend* and a birthday

Oh how I love fall. The lighting alone is enough reason to just love it....that is when the sun is shining :) We took advantage of our last known nice fall weekend and spent most of it outdoors.

We had to have a few Popsicles too :)

Madilyn and I put our rain boots on and were ready for some yard work.
We have these awesome huge trees in our backyard and we really love them...but, they drop a TON of leaves in the fall.
We actually couldn't wait to rake them up and jump in them.

and sitting in them

and on them was pretty fun too.

Madilyn's friend and our neighbor Preston came out to help too.

when we were done with the leaves, it was time to mow the lawn one last time.
This is Cowen's favorite thing to do. Paul puts him in the hiking pack and mows the lawn with him.

Cowen was in heaven :) He asks to mow the lawn about 13 times a day. Hopefully he likes to shovel snow or this is going to be a l o n g winter!
(and I am in love with those big brown eyes...)

that evening it was time to celebrate my little sis's 29th.
We had great food and good company.
Happy 29th Jess!

and then we dressed Cowen up like a sock monkey.

The end.