Funny Boots

Madeline is in love with her new rain boots. A girl in one of her books has the exact same boots, so when I saw them in Target I really wanted to get them for her. Now she can't go without them . We dropped her off at our friends' house last week and when they put her down for a nap, she refused to take her precious new boots off. I guess they are pretty stylin'.

Meeska Mooska Mickey MOUSE!

I just wrote my brother (in Argentina) and Raymey's sister (in Peru) and realized I needed to write on the blog about our new-found favorite song.
Madeline's new favorite thing in the world is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It is really funny because I don't really have an attachment to Disney or anything. Her introduction to the mouse was in Fantasia where Mickey is the sorcerer's apprentice. Then one day flipping channels we saw the Mickey Mouse show and she went nuts!! So, every morning at 8am (if I'm not working out yet) she has to watch the Mickey Mouse show and dance the Hot Dog dance at the end (she actually says "hawk-cog" for the first 23 minutes of the show until they finally show the 60 second song and dance at the end). I've had the Hot Dog song stuck in my head for the last week, but somehow it is a catchy enough tune that I like it.
Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wePMYM4av6Q
I'm such a mom now. I think some of your senses must dull (hopefully just temporarily) so that you can retain your sanity. Any moms agree?

Just another week

Raymey had a short course this week. He had 4 hours of the class on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and even today. Thank goodness he is done! Madeline and I went to the zoo again yesterday with some friends. We had a great time and wore each other out. The weather was perfect and it was SO NICE to be outside. We rode home with Tammy and Eli (our good buddies here) and Madeline and Eli looked so cute I had to snap a picture. The poor kids were pretty tired after our 4.5 hours at the zoo!
Earlier this week I found some old baloons and a little pump that I used to use to entertain kids when I was babysitting. It was a great find! Madeline LOVED playing with her baloon hat (I need to learn how to make some real things!) The last pic is of Madeline and me (I should use "me" in that case--right?) in our matching wraps. Madeline's favorite thing is to have her blanket wrapped around her in this manner. It is interesting. I'm tired, so no more writing, but here are some pics for our family and friends far away!

Mind your Manners

Madeline is often very polite about getting around people or things. She says "excuse me" to us, other kids, adults, toys, and furniture. I've been proud that she picked up this phrase.
The other day Madeline and I were in Target browsing through the One Spot. It is always really tight through that aisle and there were several people there. I was looking at something a couple feet away that was in front of another lady's cart, and waiting my turn to get over to it. Madeline decided to remedy the situation by saying "BEEP BEEP!!" to the lady. The lady looked surprised and then laughed. I was kind of embarrassed, but I also thought it was funny. I realized that at home Raymey and I say "beep beep" some times to get around her. I guess she thought that it was another form of "excuse me."

How to use smilebox (Raymey's first post!!! says Kelly)

We just realized that there is a trick to getting the videos to work on our Smilebox posts. When the screen goes blank and a horizontal bar indicates that something is loading, you may need to push the pause sign. This gives the video time to load, and once the video is loaded you can play it. If you don't push pause, it will often skip to the next picture without giving you a chance to play the video. So if you look again, there may be hidden videos on the posts that you didn't know were there. Sorry about that. Enjoy!

Zoo, Wackles, and Fish

Make a Smilebox slideshow

First let me apologize for my not-so-fancy writing. I'm usually just trying to type as fast as I can so that we actually blog something. I don't love writing, and that is why I chose a major in the sciences (although, they STILL made us write!! What's that about:) ) Here's a little summary of our slide show:
*We went to the zoo last Friday. Our favorite part was the Lorikeets. They have a giant cage where you can go in a feed them by hand.Madeline LOVED the "birdies." It was really fun for her to see real monkeys (that was the first thing we saw and she really liked the racket they where making), elephants, giraffes, meercats, tigers, and zebras. We read books about them all the time but for all she knew they could have all been 3 inches tall. It was a really warm day and we were lucky that most of the animals where out. It was great!
*You'll also see a picture of Madeline helping me make "wackles", (that's waffles to the rest of us) We got a fancy waffle mix from Larry and Laura for Christmas and had 2 fantastic breakfasts with them!
*We got 3 fish. We've started going to Petco down the street because it is closer than the zoo, and it is free! Madeline likes the guinea pigs, mice, ferrets, birdies, and fish. Yesterday we bought 3 fish (supposedly the kind that people buy to feed their other pets) named them Les (the guy from Survivorman), Elmo (Madeline chose it), and Dwight. This morning Elmo was sleeping for a very long time. Let's just say that later he had to take a swim in the porcelain swimming pool and now he's gone to the great ocean in the sky. We're down to 2 fish and my money is on Les living the longest because he is SurvivorFish. I'm thinking they won't last terribly long, but the lady at the pet store said sometimes they last for years. I'm not sure if I trust her; it is probably better if they don't!
*The last little video is Madeline identifying ABCs. She loves letters and gets excited about them. The other day I started typing ABCs and I was surprised at how many she knew. Today I tried to recreate the situation. Unfortunately, I didn't start with the letters she knows, I had already burned her out with this game, and we forgot to cheer for her. She really didn't want to play the game, so I'm going to try tomorrow to get a better video.

Oh dear, it has been too LONG!

I think that someday I want a person to clean my bathrooms, a personal secretary, and a family historian. I don't love to do these things, and don't excel in them. We were in Colorado and Utah for a big chunk of December and January. I was probably excused from blogging for at least that time, but I don't think I'm off the hook any more. Here are some of the most fun pictures:
Madeline and Granny Katie
In the snow with Daddy
4 Generations: Madeline, Daddy, Granny, and Papa
Just the 3 of us :)
Her dolly was the only one who understood her!
2 glasses are better than 1!
Playing and freezing!

Sorry to my Japanese friends, I did the best I could in dressing us in Yukatas! I need your help!
No wonder Madeline loves vacation, look at all that chocolate!
Here is a quick summary of our vacation: Madeline and I arrived in Colorado and spent a couple of days sick. Then we looked at Christmas lights (Madeline LOVED it and we went 4 nights in a row), hung out with Grammy and Papa-san, went caroling, and just had fun! Then Raymey joined us and we drove to Utah where we saw some of my Utah family, and then went to Granny's house (yes, Madeline has a Granny and a Grammy). We went to Tucano's for Raymey's family's tradition (how delicious!) and we also got to go to Body Worlds in SLC. That was an exhibit with plastinated bodies and body parts. It was extremely interesting, and not gross like we were a little worried it might be. It was very educational! Christmas was fun and relaxing and Madeline made out like a bandit with the gifts from both sides of the family. Lucky kiddo! When we went back to Colorado we did some projects, Raymey filled out his application to take the bar (wow, it was a LOT of information), Madeline was generally spoiled by her aunts and my parents:), we went to a Japanese market, and we saw Josh, Holly, and cousin Lydia. I know I'm leaving things out of this trip, but that gives you the general idea! We had a fabulous time and it was hard to leave family. It is really nice to be back in Nashville and for Madeline (and us too!) to see friends. I'm missing Nashville so much already. But, that's a subject for another post!