The Case of the Balance Beam and the Daredevil

I decided to sign the girls up for gymnastic classes at The Little Gym. Sammi had taken them a couple years ago but she was in desperate need for more classes. Her favorite thing in the entire world is jumping, flipping, balancing, cartwheels, hand stands which is exactly what this class is all about. She loves the balance beam.

Today in class they were supposed to walk to the end of the balance beam and WITH THE HELP of the teacher do a back tuck off the beam. Now I would like to note that I have emphasized the words "with the help" because Sammi is pretty independent. I would also like to note that this is a legit balance beam. It is probably a couple feet off the ground which is a pretty intimidating height for a three year old.

I was watching through the big glass windows with MaddiLu as Sammi was doing her little walk and flip. It was pretty impressive. The second time however Sammi got to the end of the beam and brushed off the teacher indicating she would like to jump off herself. Well the teacher assumed that Sammi would just make a regular jump off the beam. She obviously didn't know my kid. Sammi full on nosedives off the end of the balance beam in an ill-fated attempt to front flip off the beam. The teachers face was in shock as she yelled "Sammi!" so loud I heard it from behind the glass. The other parents watched and gasped in surprise. I explained quite loudly, "Oh my gosh!" Sammi just jumped right up after her face plant. For those of you needing a visual it looked like some sort of belly flop/taking a bow combination. Now I can look back on this moment as quite funny as she was really going for the front flip. All the other parents commented on how she was quite a daredevil. So true...

On the drive home I asked Sammi what happened on the beam and she said simply, "I tried to flip of the balance beam." I asked her how that worked out and she said, "Not good. I fell on my face." Poor kid but I have to say it took some guts to attempt which makes me a little proud even if it took a few years off my life.

Seeing Double

So as any Mom would I have saved some of Sammi's clothes for MaddiLu. Well this is quite a money saver but I have to admit every time Maddi wears one of Sammi's old outfits or pajamas I get a little weepy inside. I am sad cause I can't believe Maddi is growing so fast and has already grown into Sammi's clothes. I also feel all nostalgic cause it seemed like just yesterday Sammi was wearing it. So I busted out a pair of old fleece pajamas the other day and of course this same feeling washed over me again. Kids really do grow up too fast. So here is a picture of Sammi and Maddi wearing the same pair of pajamas....

                                    Sammi 17 months      MaddiLu 14 months

I would also love to point out  that poor Maddi has no hair by comparison...

Happy New Year!

Okay, once upon a time I actually kinda sorta almost kept this blog up to date...It is obvious I have been slacking off big time. I didn't do a Christmas letter this year either so in an attempt to update my blog and keep a record of 2012 I will now post my version of a Christmas letter here on my blog:

Happy New Year!

I hope that 2012 was as wonderful for all of you as it was for us!

Madeline is 14 months old and had a whole year of firsts! She really has the sweetest personality and she brings so much joy into our lives. This year she learned to roll over, crawl, walk and run. She loves to dance especially to Bob Marley and anything Motown. She loves to laugh and no one can make her laugh quite as hard as her big sister Sammi. She has discovered her belly button and loves to find it and of course she laughs. She is a Daddy's girl and will wander the house looking for him. When she finds him she again laughs. She loves raisins and putting on shoes.

Samantha is 3, which is something she is not at all shy about sharing with people. She has loved being a big sister and tells everyone she meets that she has a baby sister, "Maddi Luga!" No one quite knows why she has nicknamed her "Maddi Luga" but she has. Sammi is so talkative and has the best imagination. She has a two sets of imaginary friends, the "Boys" and the "Girls." The Girls are sweet and the Boys are the ones who do all the naughty things. If something is as mess she tells me that the Boys did it. Sammi loves to tell us her dreams and tells pretty elaborate stories before bedtime. This year she learned to do a handstand and loves to do flips and "moves" as she calls them. She has gotten very independent and loves to do things herself. She loves animals and playing games like Go Fish, Hide and Seek, and make believe. She has a laughing everyday.

Aubree turned 12 this year and is growing into a very grown up young lady. This year she loved school shopping and included in her school clothes this year were things like earings, nail polish and headbands. She loved anything that had a zebra print or neon colors. She spends most of her time in Ferrron these days but we miss her everyday.

Tim and I are not sharing with you our ages, and we always get the most boring entries in these updates. Most of our lives revolve around our kids, work, house and kids. Oh and don't forget our kids. Tim has his weekly bowling league and had a high score of 255 and which I find quite impressive. If I break 100 I feel fantastic. I know that I have been running around chasing two kids and definitely not updating my blog (sorry).

My two brothers had big years though. Nate came home from his mission in May from Seoul, South Korea. We were all so excited to have him back. He came back more mature and loving kimchi. Zac just got engaged after Christmas in Hawaii to Hailey! We are so excited for them cause she is about the sweetest ever and we can't wait to start calling her "Aunt Hailey."

I see great things happening in 2013! Hope you guys do too!

  

May Madness

May has always been a busy month for our family. Somehow we have managed to pack all sorts of stuff into May.

2nd of May: Samantha's 3rd birthday!

She was very excited to turn three and we celebrated on her birthday by going to McDonald's for lunch and she got a new princess bicycle. She couldn't quite peddle it but she was pretty excited that it came with a little carrier so she could ride with her stuffed animals.




5th of May: The Party!

 We had a party at the park for Sammi's birthday. Friends and family came. Everyone braved the wind and cold to celebrate. We ate some pizza and I made her a green cake. Her favorite color is green so we had a green cake, green monkey decorations that she picked out herself and green balloons. She got spoiled with presents and got to hand out party favors to her friends and cousins. It was a lot of fun.



7th of May: Our Anniversary!

Tim and I have been married for 6 years! Wow I can't believe how fast time flies by. We actually have been together for 9 years. Our anniversary of our first date was in May 2003 (See we have a lot in May!) In all that time so much has changed. Aubree has grown up into a young lady and we have added two sweethearts: Sammi and Maddi! I am grateful that I got to marry Tim and love him so much.







9th of May: The Airport

So it is here! After two years I took my brother and parents to the airport! They are on their way to pick up Nathan from his mission in Seoul, South Korea. I can't believe that in a little over a week they will be home and have my little brother with them. Since they have been gone they have video called us so we could see Nate. Today they fly to Japan for a week and then they are home. This picture is one a member in Nate's old ward took.



11th of May: Dinner

Well being a Mom means that eating without a child on your lap is a rare treat. That eating something other than McDonald's is gourmet. That being said I love being a Mom but it was nice to get to have an anniversary dinner with my husband, kid free. Thanks to Aunt Emily for watching the girls so we could eat in peace. This is a picture of Madeline and Emily's nephew, Summit, giving kisses while Emily was babysitting.




And it is only the 16th of May!  More to come...

Our Easter

 So because I don't post as often as I should I usually just dump a whole bunch of pictures of what we have been doing and hope that you get the general idea...for example...here are our Easter pictures. They are pretty straight forward...

First we....

 Then we...

 After which we...

Then of course we had to...

And Maddi got to...

And it wouldn't be Easter without...

And...

Finally...

!

See pretty straight forward right?

Our Sweet Little Blessing

Madeline was blessed a couple Sundays ago. We took a ton of pictures of her with family and friends who were there to celebrate with us. She looked like a little angel! She has a sweetness about her that melts my heart. I love her so much!

The blessing was beautiful, the dress was beautiful, the day was beautiful. It has been such a blessing to have her in our lives!

With Pa

With Uncle Dave

With Blondie

With big sister Sammi

With Mommy and Uncle Zac

With Aunt Sue and Aunt Sheila

With Daddy

With Hailey

With Aunt Karie

With Auntie Emily

Brandon, Jessica and cute little Peyton

Funny baby Maddi and her flower...

So Maddi has started rolling over from her back to her tummy. She has been doing tummy to back for a couple weeks. While she was sleeping a couple nights ago she started stretching and sure enough she rolled herself right over. Since then I unsuccessfully attempted to take a little video of her newest feat but couldn't quite catch it. She also started sucking her thumb so I took a video of that and that is the video you see below...she was enjoying her thumb sucking when things went a little wrong...

I was going to help her remove the flower but then she rolled over and wanted to get that on camera so I just left it on so I could get her rolling over.

The Last Couple Weeks...

So here is what the last couple weeks have brought us...

Madeline started smiling a lot and giggling!

Sammi loves books and Maddi seemed pretty entertained as well...

Putting up our toilet paper tube bird feeder...

MaddiLu looking styin in her new flower...

Sammi and I made this Sammi sized snowman...

Maddi went swimming for the first time. At first she had this confused look but after a few minutes started loving it...

Oops...pictures out of order...Sammi making our bird feeder...

Here comes the Sammi....

With a new baby and my futile attempts at keeping my house clean and going to the gym has made me not so fun a Mommy. So in attempt to be more "fun" I bought this app for the ipad which consists of 365 days of activities do with your kids. Proof that there really is an app for just about anything.

The first day I bought it the activity was "Play Dress Up" and so during Madeline's nap time that is exactly what Sammi and I did. We don't have a ton of dress up clothes but Mommy has way more than I really should so we hit up my closet. Sammi couldn't stop laughing, she thought it was too silly. Her favorite thing to dress up in was Aubree's flower girl dress from our wedding. I even pulled out my veil so she could "get married." It was a little eerie how much she looked like a miniature bride. All in all we had a lot of fun.

Day 2 was make Valentine's and Day 3 was roll around the floor and laugh. I didn't take picture of the valentines before they were mailed and lets be honest no one needs a picture of me laughing while rolling around on the floor. I am hoping these activities will remind me to spend more time playing with my girls cause look at that face...she is so fun to be around!

Madeline's Baby Pictures

I had Madeline's pictures done and they turned out so cute I had to share them. Both the photographer, Whitney from Fotogenix, and I got the inspiration for the pictures from my newest obsession: Pinterest. Everything from the poses, the letter initial, the backgrounds were all a combination of things we saw on Pinterest. Even my brother's girlfriend made the tutu from a tutorial she saw on...yep...Pinterest. I thought that they were so wonderful and it helped that Madeline is about the cutest baby in the entire world. She is the sweetest thing and am so grateful for her in my life everyday.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Sammi loved opening present and getting ready for Santa to come. She asked Santa for a blue car and he delivered. She got a lot of toys including: dolls, ponies, a cooking set, doll cradle and games. Madeline got lots of toys considering she is only a month old. She got rattles, stuffed animals, clothes and books. We had such a wonderful Christmas day.