Last Week's 10.

1.  Max learned to say "binki".  It comes out more like "gunki" but it's progress.  One of the things he says most is "uh oh, binki".  When he can't find it.  I think pretty soon here we'll only give it to him at night. 

2.  For Valentines we tried to meet up with my parents at The Cheesecake Factory.  When we got there there was an hour wait.  No way.  We headed to the Olive Garden. 

3.  Mike surprised me with flowers and chocolates on Friday.  How sweet!  I didn't get him anything because we had both "agreed" that Cancun was going to be our Valentines gift.  And our Anniversary.  And birthdays. 

4.  Got three new pairs of shoes this week!  All very good deals. 

5.  The Amazing Race started last night.  Yay!  It's one of our favorite shows.

6.  Moved Max up to size 5 diapers.  They're huge!  But lets face it, size 4's can't handle the night-time. 

7.  Got a package of cute Old Navy clothes for the kids from my mother-in-law. 

8.  Went to Roxberry after aerobics on Friday.  Nothing like a good drink to make the working out worthless! :)

9.  Dropped off a picture of the kids at Mike's Grandparents house.  They are the cutest people ever. 

10.  Madilyn had lots of fun waking up on Valentines to her surprise from Mike and I.  We had made her a little card and got her a box of conversation hearts.  I had wanted to do the whole week of little valentine's surprises for her, like my mom did for us growing up, but I totally spaced it.  Next year I'll do better!

Daddy-Daughter Dance Day!

Madilyn was SO excited to have her daddy come to dance with her today. They had lots of fun! I didn't get very good pictures (I think my camera gets confused with the mirror in the back), but I did get some good video!

She was starting a plie in this:

They started learning their routine that they're performing at their Recital in May. It is going to be SO cute. It's to the song "L-is for the way you look...". Next time I go I'm going to video the instructor teaching it so that I can learn it and help Maddie practice at home :)

Here are a couple of videos of them while playing "freeze dance":

Yay!

We got our mattress today!  Maybe Mike and I will be able to sleep at night now.  Our old mattress was worn out!  It makes our bed so tall now.  Anyway, I'm excited to go to sleep tonight! 

Yesterday we went to Kangaroo Zoo with Maddie's friends Avery and Ava.   I told Madilyn at about 10 in the morning that we'd be going to the bouncy house after her nap that afternoon.  She started jumping up and down yelling "hooray!" and then immediately after that she said, "boy, I'm tired.  I'm going to go take my nap".  Haha, no, not at 10 in the morning!  Then she couldn't sleep when her really nap time came because she was too excited.  Silly girl :)  Anyway, it was nice to get out!  The kids got to burn off lots of energy, and I got some adult time with a couple of my cute friends.  It's a win-win! 

Of course Max has to squeeze into the tiniest places.  He's such an explorer.

The cute girl in the stripes kept helping Avery up.  It was way cute.  She kept pushing on her bum and Avery was pulling with all her might. 

Tomorrow is Daddy-Daughter day at Madilyn's dance class.  Hopefully I'll get some cute video from that.  Until then!

A little medley for your listening pleasure

Here is a random video of Madilyn singing some of her favorite songs. Every night, when we're tucking her in bed we have to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Book of Mormon stories", "Hands upon my Head", (say her prayers after this song) and then the "I love you song". In that specific order, no changes, with the exact hand signs. She's very particular, my little girl!

This weeks Top 10

1. Went to see Evolution of Dance with my sister-in-law Ashley and Madilyn.  It was a two hour show and Maddie watched the entire show.  She loved it. 

2.  Max broke the tile display thing that we had on our counter.  He pulled it off and it shattered.  Luckily it didn't make our tile flooring crack. 

3.  Took the kids to Chuck E Cheese on Monday.  Mike had the day off.  It was...interesting.  But fun.

4.  Went to Costco twice this week and loved the Super Samples for the Super Bowl. 

5.  Madilyn has taken to calling herself "Princess Weena!".  I couldn't figure out what she meant for awhile, but it means princess ballerina :)

6.  Played Rock Band at Ashley and Brian's on Saturday. Love it. 

7. Had an awesome activity on Wednesday for our Achievement Days girls.  We worked out and then had healthy snacks.  I love those girls.  It's such a great calling. 

8.  Had a way fun girls night. 

9. Started reading my new book "Eyes of a Stranger".  It's okay. 

10.  Found a new song I L-O-V-E!  It's called "1234" by the Plain White T's.  Check it out. Soooo good! 

On our way to the dance performance.  We were matching.  It just happened, I didn't plan it.

My kids have a few new tricks this week too:

Max standing on his truck.  He likes to watch TV like this. 

Madilyn getting ready to twirl.  She's a powerhouse!  She did actually spin around on one foot here.  It's hard to tell with no video. 

And this is Max's FAVORITE new game.  It gets him giggling non-stop. 

Climbing up

Getting ready

JUMP!  Or more like lean...

He made it!

All that equals endless fun!

I just had to post these...

My Aunt Mie put these pictures on her blog of my grandma and grandpa. I hadn't ever seen them before and I think they're just beautiful.  It's been about 1 1/2 months since she passed away, and it's still hard to believe it's real.  We miss you grandma.

More Dance Stuff

Madilyn's friend Ava invited us to her dance class at The Pointe today for their Princess party.  Maddie was SO excited.  While she was "napping" I over-heard her telling one of her dolls, "After we wake up, get to go to princess party with Ava...".  It was so cute.  The girls all looked so adorable and they just had a blast!

 

Madilyn with Ava and Quincy.  Such cute girls. 

HUGS!

Dancing around, excited for class to start!  Quincy has the most gorgeous hair and she's only 2 1/2!

The girls with their teacher.  How cute is she?! Maddie about had a heart attack when her teacher walked in all dressed up.  I'm sure she thought she was getting taught by a REAL LIVE princess!

Showing off what she got at the party!  A new crown, a wand, a bag filled with toys and candy, and a balloon.

While we were there, Jessica pointed out this guy:

I was trying really hard to be secretive about taking a picture of him, because I felt like a dork. BUT, Kylee told me I needed to get a picture with him, so she took one of us. 

It's MATT from So You Think You Can Dance!  Love that show!  And he was SOOO good.  I was excited to meet him.  He was a nice guy. 

Bored, bored, bored

I've come to the conclusion that January is purpose-less.  December is Christmas and by the time February come around, we get glimpses of Spring.  But January?  What's great about January?  Nada.  Unless you like being frozen solid for a whole month. 

Anyway....We've been going crazy around here with cabin fever.  My kids have both been off and on sick.  Max has like 25 teeth coming in.  Ok, four, but might as well be 25.  They are hurting him!  So we've kind of just been hanging out at the house.  Today after nap time I grabbed the camera and just snapped some pictures of us in all of our boredom. 

Ok, besides being holed up, life is good!  Mike has a good job, we have a house to keep us protected from the sub-zero temperatures, and we have two awesome kids.  I guess January just helps me appreciate July more.  So, THAT must be it's purpose!  To help me remember not to complain when it's 100 degrees outside.

This picture made me laugh.  He's looking at me like, "what, me?!" and Maddie's finger is pointing straight at him :)

Excuse the chappy faces, like I said, we've all had runny noses. 

Max was so smiley.   

Talking on the phone

Best Buds

This is Max's best little buddy now days, Curious George.  I love that he loves it so much.  Notice the cushion on the chair is gone.  Madilyn and him take off that cushion any chance they get.  They like to sit on it on the ground.  Anyway, this first picture is just awesome because he even has his legs locked around George. 

I'm working on getting Max onto one nap instead of two.  I was trying to keep him up for as long as possible today, so that he'd get a good long nap.  I was unloading our groceries and this is how I found him:

Falling asleep....

...and he's out.  I love this little boy.  He melts my heart. 

Dance Class!!

The day finally came!  Madilyn has been SO excited for dance class. She had such a fun time, and loved her teacher Miss Mindy.  Her friend Ava came too, and it was so fun to peek through the little window and see them dancing around having a blast. 

We're going to try out a few different studios and see what works best.  I did LOVE the teacher at this studio we went to today.  She reminded me of someone who could play Cinderella or Belle and walk around Disneyland mesmerizing little girls.  The parking was interesting though with the bad storm. My friend Jessica had quite the experience getting stuck, like completely stuck, in the deep snow with both her kids in the car.  I felt so bad for her.  At least we were able to push her out. 

Anyway,  I'm going to post a lot of pictures of Madilyn in her dance stuff...just because I couldn't choose :)

 

Warming up for class to the Wiggles. 

This one's kinda blurry, but it's the only one I had of this awesome pose!

She was trying so hard to point her toes.  She finally got the hang of it!