Saturday, January 12, 2013

BACK TO SCHOOL week....gone are the fun holidays and family time and back are the school days and extra curricular activities in full swing!  
MK came home on Tuesday with a special treat in her bag.  About a month ago, she was awarded this certificate of achievement during a school wide performance.  Her teacher sent me a text and said that MK looked a little embarrassed by the attention but she smiled as she got to pick out her choice of special activities to take home.  As a result, our family gets to spend a fun day with MK at a local amusement park for FREE.  Love!  What an honor it was for her to be chosen.  Only 4 children in the whole school are chosen each quarter and they must be recommended by their teacher.
 With school in, homework began and Maddox did not want MK to work alone so she practiced her handwriting following an afternoon of ballet.
 One morning, Maddox quietly gathered some of her favorite dolls and Cotton Ball  for a little clothing and accessory makeover.  
 The weather here is abnormally HOT.  Like 83 degrees hot.  In January.  So, we took it upon ourselves to get out and soak up some of the bright yellow stuff.  The boys received fishing poles for Christmas and they were very excited to go to our neighborhood pond and put them to use!
 Pryce needed a helper during school one day.....Finley to the rescue!
 Little miss will be receiving a new helmet for her half birthday that is coming up!  She puts Cruella DeVille to shame, slinging her bike this way and that while fishtailing for an added flair.  The faster the better; swerving to miss something in the road or in her path is just an added bonus to her three wheeled adventure.  
  Our sweet girls.  So glad to see this more and more. Their relationship continues to flourish minus a few squabbles here and there.  I just love that they enjoy their time together.
 And a night with one of MK's besties.  The girls were so cute together dressing up, painting nails, applying glitter tattoos, curling hair.....these two have been together from the very beginning and their little friendship is precious!  

Monday, January 7, 2013

One Last Hurrah

On Wednesday, C was freed from his cast and on Saturday he was back out on the court doing what he loves most, shooting hoops.  His team members welcomed him back with open arms.  He was a bit hesitant going in but quickly got agitated by the largest opposing team member and decided it was his duty to block that guy!  He succeeded and though their team continues to struggle, C was feeling good as he walked away.  
Next up....Build A Bear.  The girls got gift cards to Build A Bear for Christmas and they were beside themselves as they each picked out their perfect bear, warmed its heart, stuffed it closed and dressed it up.  MK named her bear Sally and Maddox is now the proud bear parent to Cotton Ball.  Yes, you read that right, Cotton Ball:)
 Our time at the mall was made even better when we were surprised with a visit from one of our favorite families for dinner.  Then it was off to the hotel for the evening....our family travels light for only being gone one night!
 And what is a hotel without a ride on the luggage trolley, oh my the fun these two had!  **Adoption note....we were on the elevator, packed in with the trolley and our children.  Not much room to squirm around in.  The elevator stops and on comes two women to join us.  And the awkward silence set in.  And the one lady leans over to me, kind of shades her mouth with her hand and whispers, "So, how long have you had them?"  I did not see the need to whisper, I mean really MK was right there and she hears EVERYTHING.  So I answered her and smiled.  And she continued, in her polite whisper, "And what country are they from?"  I answered, again in my normal voice and with a smile about my face.  And then the lady whispers, "Uh-huh.  My cousin's wife's brother married a lady from China."  Say it ain't so.  
 We love receiving gift certificates to some new places to try out for family fun!  This year G-Mom, G-Dad, Gran and Pop treated us to a day at Snow Mountain and then, later, our family will spend some time at the Great Wolf Lodge....two new places to explore, all can enjoy.  Love!
 With the air crisp and cool, we bundled ourselves up and sped over to Stone Mountain for a day in the fun white stuff.
 We tubed for two hours straight, as a family and individually.  Thankfully, Maddox met the height requirement so she was on with the rest of us and loved every minute of it!  
 Following our time on the tubes, we frolicked in the snow play area for a bit.....
 there was a lot of snow ball throwing and giggles were aplenty!
 This area also had a smaller tubing and sledding are for the girls to enjoy....
 so while the boys took turns pelting snowballs at one another through the crowd of people, the girls hit the hills!
 I love this sequence of pictures with Maddox....the plunge,
 the slide....(her face is priceless!)
 the "getting the hang of this".....
The end.
 And her exact words as she would get off each time, "That was awesome! Really, really awesome!"
And her words pretty much sum up our day at Snow Mountain as well.....awesome!  
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, there are five things that I positively have done right in my life....Ryan. Colin. Pryce. Mason-Kate. Maddox.  I blog most often about my children but I must take a moment and blog about Ry.  Three things.  There are more, of course, but these three are very noteworthy in our everyday life.
The dishes.  Where I cannot handle having dishes in the sink, Ryan cannot handle the way I throw everything in the dishwasher.  So, he does the dishes.  I throw them all in the dishwasher and he diligently takes them all out and methodically loads the dishwasher the Ryan way - and washes the rest.  And then unloads the dishwasher.  It is his baby.  Dare I try to load it to be helpful and actually turn it on to wash, gasp.  I am pretty sure it won't work out.  Ever.  Even if I meant well.  Ryan is the only man I know that when asked what he would like, he will most always respond, a new dishwasher.  Thankful for my dishwashing obsessed man?  You bet!
The baths.  Colin was a mere three days old when we decided to give him his first bath.  And he screamed the entire time, mostly because he hated his bath but partly due to the fact that he grabbed a handful of his jet black hair and pulled on it not knowing that he was causing himself pain.  And the screaming continued every single time we gave him a bath....two weeks in and I threw my hands up and said I could not handle it.  I felt like I was torturing him.  In walked Mr. Wonderful, the bath whisperer (and wife calmer!).  He gladly took over the job of bath time and within a few months, bath time became their time to bond.  And later, enter Pryce.  And MK.  And Maddox.  Ryan traveled a good bit when the boys were little.  They would literally tear up when they realized mommy was going to bathe them, knowing I would just do a little scrub here, a little scrub there and POUR the water right over their little shampooed heads.  Not daddy's way and the tears flowed.  Thankfully, they have forgiving hearts and they recognize that mommy can do other things just right!
Bedtime.  It is all a system.  And I was reminded last night that it is not my system, but Ry's.  Ryan and his selfless self had gone to the store for me and I told him I would get the girls to bed.  First up, brush teeth....Maddox immediately yelled, "Dat not how daddy do it!" She was mad, mad, mad at me for pulling her little lip up to brush her top teeth.  MK came in and instructed me, "Daddy lets Maddox brush her own teeth and then he does it.  Take turns with her, mommy!"  Ok, ok, I am just a mommy trying to fill a daddy's shoes, sheesh.  Then we go into their room for stories.  I was all ready to cuddle up on one of their beds and read two stories with them all snuggled in close.  Oh no, no, no....definitely not how daddy does it.  Daddy reads Maddox's story on her bed, and MK's story on her bed.  So, of course, we did just that.  Then, prayer time.  I turned off their lamp to pray, thinking it would be relaxing.  Oh no.  Immediately the cries of, "That is not how daddy does it.  He turns the light off AFTER we say prayers."  Of course he does, sigh.
Thank you Ryan, for being the daddy and husband that you are!  Thank you for having your special ways of doing things with our children.  So glad you have your special ways with our children that I know nothing about and will never be able to do like you. And thank you, thank you for making all of my dreams come true!
**And thank you for taking care of the dishes:)  One day, one day.....we may just have a dishwasher that meets up to your standards.  Until then, keep loading/unloading away honey....we love you!