Inspired

Today I'm grateful for the blogosphere.  I lounged in bed early this morning as Scott and Madeline had breakfast, after a long night with a certain baby boy, browsing through my google reader.  I came across a couple of lovely blog posts that were so inspiring.  I think for the most part MY attitude makes or breaks our day in this little house.  What may have been a grumpy, nasty day has developed into a wonderful, peaceful day.

Blog reading can leave us feeling perfectly inspired or perfectly inadequate.  I think the inadequacy comes from believing these posts show the entirety of someone's life, when really they are just small snapshots.  I hope the small group of family and friends who read this little blog never leave feeling inadequate in any way.  I post my triumphs for the most part.  We sure have our fair share of troubles, challenges, and shortcomings.  This blog is a very small snapshot of this family's life, but one I enjoy sharing.

Chopped

I woke up with an itch to cut Benson's moppy head of hair today.  Scott volunteered to do the deed.  His tool of choice is always the electric clippers.  We both agreed on using the longest extension so as to only give him a little trim.  It turned out short.  Shorter than either of us had anticipated.  Part of me is having slight post-cutting remorse.  That kind of remorse is the worst.  The other part of me thinks it's really cute.  

Before:

After:

FYI:

This was Madeline at 7-ish months sans haircut.

The Present

The hula hoop tent was the hit of the night.  It's already been used as a bed, a balloon catcher, a house, and a church.

I got the idea here, but then kind of made it up as I went.  I used 2 sheets and some leftover scraps from her quilt.  I'm happy with the final product, and happy Madeline loves it so much.

The Girl

This little girl of mine, I tell you what...she's pretty amazing.  Here's what she's all about right now:

• She loves, loves, loves to play with stuffed animals.  She calls them her children.  She can never have enough.  She tells me she wants to be a mommy just like me when she grows up.  I hope she'll be a better one.
• She's turned into quite the pretender.  Her favorite things to play are sleep, sleepover, campout, house, and birthday party
• She loves to decorate anything.  Usually her children.  Sometimes our furniture.  Sometimes her parents.  She decorates with paper, ribbons, and scarves.  Several times a day we hear, "I'm going to dec-wate"
• She's become a daddy's girl much of the time.  This is a stark, stark contrast to a younger Madeline.  It's been nice for all of us.  Her favorite thing to do with daddy is Super Mario Bro on the Wii.  
• She adores her baby brother.  She's a wonderful big sister - better than I ever imagined.  She's really helpful in taking care of him, too.  She can put on a diaper all by herself.  
• She sleeps!!!  I never would have thought it would take almost 4 years for her to consistently sleep through the night, but it did.  She's really easy to put to bed now, and she stays there.  It's an amazing transformation.
• She's smart.  Sometimes too smart.  Last week I walked into her room and looked on her little table.  She had written two words on a piece of paper - WHY and CAT.  I have not taught her how to write words.  I asked her how she'd written them.  She said that she saw those words on a show once.  The downside to the smarts is an increase in questioning rules and sassiness.  
• This girl draws, and she draws well.  She did not get this from me.  I draw stick people, flowers, suns, houses, and trees - and I draw them poorly.  She draws cats, reindeer, dinosaurs, santa claus, and princesses to name a few.  She picked this up while she was babysat by my sister-in-law, who is an artist.  I think it's wonderful.
• Her favorite thing to watch is The Land Before Time.  She's all about dinosaurs, along with typical girly stuff.

I just can't get over what a sweet little person she's turning into.  Here's to another year of challenges and wonders!

The Party

Last night was the big 4 year old birthday party that we've been anticipating at this house for a month.  It was a family affair, which I'm not complaining about at all.  We'll have plenty of years of friend parties to come, I'm sure.  In fact, when I asked Madeline who she wanted to invite to her party, she said, "All my friends.  You know, like grandma and grandpa, and cousin Zane and Aishya, and you and daddy".  So, I guess to her it was a friend party.

All though we've been talking about this party for a very long time, a lot of the details didn't fall into place until the last minute.  Why the slacking?  I have a baby who was diagnosed with Scarlet Fever just two days before the party (he'd been on antibiotics long enough to have the party).  This baby can't sleep at night in his current state.  This baby's mommy doesn't sleep either.  I was much more walking zombie than party planner.

THE cake.  Madeline's been talking about her birthday cake since well before Christmas.  Aunt Becky sure delivered.  It was perfect.

The games.  One of the details I'd neglected to plan.  My mom put together some great blast from the past games.  These were all games we played at my birthday parties.  Clothes pin in the jar...

Pin the tail on the donkey...

Memory tray...

The presents.  I lucked out in this department, too.  She got some nice practical items along with the toys, like a high back booster car seat.  I'm a big fan.  She buckled and unbuckled herself this morning!

What a night!

Bedtime Boredom

Can you guess what his favorite trick is?

"Who, me?"  That innocent face can't hide a slobbery chin!

While She Was Away

Madeline spent a big girl weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Roper's by herself as part of her birthday gift from them.  They took her to see the musical of Beauty and the Beast at the local high school.  She tells me it was "really great, mom".

While she was gone I got busy painting her dresser.  This was Scott's dresser from his childhood.  This picture is post-sanding.  It really was in pretty good shape, just not too cute for a little girl.

And the after pic:

I painted the drawer pulls white, but when we put the first set back on, I just really didn't like them at all.  In fact, I told Scott I would rather it have no handles than those handles.  His sister came over on Saturday night and gave us the idea of using ribbon for the handles.  I love it!

Magic

Pics courtesy of Miss Madeline

Archiving my family's life has been put on hold for the last few weeks, due to my current obsession of watching Psych reruns.  I cannot quit that show!   Anyway...

We spent another weekend with the Ropers last week.  At least, the kids and I did.  Poor Scott works every Saturday morning.  The whole thing is still a little bit like magic to me.  I've spent most of my adult years living across the country from my parents.  They were in Wisconsin and I was in Utah, I was in Texas and they were in Wisconsin, they were in Utah and I was in Texas.  Now I can just hop in the car with my two kids and way too much stuff for just a weekend; we can drive for 2 hours 15 minutes and be in a different state at the home of my parents.  Magic, I tell you.  I still can't get over it.  

My mom and the kids and I took our semiannual pilgrimage to the outlets in Park City.  Boy, do I miss good ol' Grapevine Mills being a mere 15 minutes away in Texas.  Two weeks before Madeline was born I received a coupon in the mail to a certain store.  It was good for paying $20 for $30 in merchandise.  I hopped on over to Grapevine Mills Mall and proceeded to shop.  I took an armful of stuff to the check-out counter, and was told my loot didn't ring up to $30 yet.  I went back to the racks TWICE before I had enough stuff to satisfy the coupon.  I walked out of that store with bags of clothing.  Madeline was completely outfitted for the following winter (including a coat) for $20.  I was hooked.  I've hit the outlets in early August and February every year since.  And thus, my children are clothed.  This trip did not disappoint.  

Of course, I had a little project to work on while we were there.  I made Madeline a hula hoop tent for her birthday.  It's sure to be a hit with her and her animal "children".