For Dad and Alicia

Many of you know my dad is quite into birding and happens to have a few family members that enjoy the hobby as well. One of those is Anders and he really is starting to know his birds as this conversations shows.

Maddie: I wanna watch a boobie. (movie)
Anders: Maddie, i'ts not called a boobie!
Me: (with a side glance and a smile at Brig) So what is a boobie, Anders.
Anders: You know one of those birds that swim and catch fish.
(Of course a Booby ... that's totally what I was thinking.)


My sister Alicia and I almost always shared a room growing up. Ever since I was young I've been a night person and usually when the lights went out my mouth started running. A section from a blog post Alicia did a while back explains this well,

"when she learned something cool at school she couldn't wait to share it with me, even if it meant keeping me up all night till I really understood what ever concept it was she was trying to help me understand. You know, really important things like how to round numbers, how to read novels and how to wear floral print. (sorry that the floral print never stuck Chelle, you did your best!)"

So, Alicia, I thought you would appreciate this conversation I had last night with the Anders and Maddie (they share a room).

Anders: I like to share a room with Maddie because at night I can teach her all the stuff I learn at school.
Me: Like what?
Anders: Like about the ABC's and braille and sign language.
Maddie: (about 2000 decimals louder then necessary) ya, i yike a-no a sign main-guage

Hi ya'll. I'm still here.

Hello, Everyone. My Name is Eddie, I just got back from a crazy wedding in Oregon. Boy does my family like to dance. It was a blast and if you were standing next to me you'd be hearing me tell you all about it in EDlish. What can I say, I like to talk. Not that any of you would know anything about me because my mom stopped doing updates on me months ago, but I keep growing even if the internet doesn't hear about it. She thought she'd make up for lost time here today.

Oh, Eddie there you are at that typing again. You little rascal!

Life has been busy and here is a VERY random look at what we've been up to.
We've been trying to stay warm here in the chilly weather. I have to give a shout out to our wood stove that saves us (literally) thousands of dollars in the winter. This is basically all we use for heat and I love it.

Another shout out to my sister-in-law Hailey and thanks to her Mad Skills these incredibly cool hats help keep us warm as well. She MADE THEM. I know, she rocks.
We do bathe every once in a while. This was after a bath one night we were trying to get a picture of Eddie's gigantic after dinner belly but he wouldn't stay still. You get the gist.

Eddie is at that age where he rules the kitchen. The time and effort it takes to get this one individual fed and cleaned is equivalent to the rest of us combined. Exhibit A - Eddie eating pudding.

When he's not in the highchair, he's busy doing this ...
And this...
These two pictures were the result of a battle of the will between Brig and Maddie. I think it's negotiable who won. This is Maddie at the top of the stairs after about 45 minutes of crying because Brig wouldn't carry her down the stairs. She's at that stage where she's so independent about most things but then every once in a while she throws in a "I can't do it, it's too hard." I think it's just part of being three.She's been into writing and letters lately and her favorite is the E with about 12 arms. The other day her and another three year old were coloring after class chatting about birthdays, and ponies, and gumdrops (you get the picture). So I hear her say, "I'll write your name." She then draws an O, looks at her friend and says in a very adult voice, "tuh, tuh, E, that's how you spell your name." She's on the right track.
She does love ponies, her obsession started when Brig's mom came back with a bin full of my little ponies from back in the day. We've added a few new ones which are no where near as cool as the old ones. This is now her entourage. My mom got her a nearly Maddie sized pony for Christmas and that is now added to the posse, but it doesn't fit in her backpack like the rest. Believe me, she's tried.

Anders is her other best friend. I mean look at them, they just make me smile.
I forgot about that clothing extravaganza until I saw this picture. Maddie got herself dressed that morning then wouldn't change for bed. The next day she wore the same thing. When I finally made her change for bed the next night she had on 8 shirts.

Wow, I'm sleepy and not nearly through. I'll post more soon. Next time I'll try not to do it at 1 in the morning. The silence and lack of distraction obviously makes me more loopy than normal.

Sleepy Time Icecream Cone

Maddie loves herself some icecream, even half asleep.

PS - this video contains the added bonus of The Office playing in the background.

Not Lacking Creativity

Let's just say, because of this routine of Maddie's we ALWAYS buy washable.

Got a little carried away! The other day before church she actually colored in and around her belly button. My other favorite was recently when she colored all over her face in black and she was all proud and excited to show Anders and Eddie and they got scared of her, then she got scared they got scared. Meanwhile, Brig and I are watching it all unfold trying not to laugh.

It's also been fun recently to have my brother Kevin staying with us. The kids love having him and my two cousins Brady and Clark around.

Here's a couple more recent creative gems.

The other day Anders made a book at school. Maddie kept asking if she could make a book. So I got a stack of paper stapled it together and gave it to her expecting her to scribble on each page. A few minutes later she came and found me and asked me to write what she asked on each page. I was shocked and amused.

Here is Maddie's first book.

My great grandparents had a pump organ and that's one of my favorite memories about going to their house. That and learning to play checkers. My parents recently bought this pump organ and it was so cool to see Anders get into it right away.

Watch out it's catchy, it'll probably get stuck in your head.

Meet Olivia and Archie

Maddie is a very lucky girl. My very talented friend did this post a while back about these dolls she fell in love with.

This is the result.Thank you Adrianne, you rock!


And by the way, Anders aka legoboy started a blog ... all I do is type, the rest is all him.

Baby Bird

Today outside the kitchen window was a hummingbird. It stayed by the bush for about 5 minutes, which is good because it took the whole 5 minutes to convince Maddie it was not a "baby bird", but an "adult bird" that was small. I think we could have used another couple minutes because a few times tonight she's inquired about that "baby bird."

Hummingbirds are crazy, they're not quite an insect but they're also not quite a bird.

Another conversation that I have with Maddie about 8 trillion times a day goes like this.

Maddie: Mom I need ______.
Me: OK I'll get it.
(1/2 second later, as if she's been waiting hours.)
Maddie: So, do it mom.

(This is a picture taken by Anders yesterday. There's another whole post about Anders latest photo shoot. He's quite the budding photographer.)

Letting go ... a little.

Anders is my friend. And today my friend went to kindergarten.

There was a lot of backpack showing off to do.