Best Buddies

Two of a kind!! (Nice hat Ryan!! He doesn't usually wear his hats this way. He puts it up like that from time to time because it's to tight :)

Daddy's little girls

It's not fair how fast these little girls are growing up. These pix were taken in May 2004. Where does time go????

Happy Happy Birthday Madi Dear.....

September 26th 2001 was one of the happiest days of my life. I was given an amazing gift....a sweet tiny little package straight from heaven. 5 lbs 3 oz to be exact. Iwill never forget the feeling I had as I looked into my daughters eyes for the first time. It was as if she were trying to tell me a story.... She knew me and I knew her. Madi was born 5 weeks early. She just could not wait to enter this world. She was a giant piece of happiness in a tiny body. A couple weeks earlier we had just had the 9/11 terrorist attacks and a few days after that my grandpa Redding past away, who was so excited to meet Madi. I still remember the day I told him I was pregnant. He was absolutely elated!! He could not wait to meet her. He wanted a great-grand child so bad. His words to me were "now I have reason to hang around a little longer" I like to think that he is her gaurdian angel. Madilyn is such an amazing child. There is no one in the world like her. She has brought me more joy than I ever thought was possible. I learn something from her everyday. She teaches me to enjoy life. She is so in tune with everything in the world around her. She notices everything and I mean EVERYTHING! Wow...7 years old. She is growing up so fast. I wish I could push pause and freeze time. I wish I could gather all the moments we have treasured over the past 7 years and put them in a box and hold on to them forever!!

7 of Madilyn's favorite things

1. Her family

2. playing school

3. bugs, animals, bugs, wildlife...

4. Her Hannah Montana brand shoes....but not Hannah Montana

5. June AKA Junior

6. york peppermint patties

7. Junie B. books

7 More....I couldn't just stop at 7

1. Chicken bake

2. Her bike

3. 31 flavors

4. The boy who always wears a blue tie....I don't dare mention his name :)

5. singing

7. Maple...Mrs. Suskauer

Stay tuned

Check back for Madi's birthday pictures. She'll be 7 on Friday.

Go Cody go Cody

Cody has been making me laugh a lot lately! He is so funny and he doesn't even know it. He was playing lincoln logs today and he came across a figurine. He held it up to me and said "this is grandma o. Say hi to grandma o. Don't touch her!" He put her safely in the lincoln log box, put the lid on securely and said "That's mine grandma o. Her is nice" He carried it around most of the day and even took it to bed with him. At bedtime he said "kiss grandma o goodnight" so I did. Then he informed me she needed to say her prayers. It was so cute. What was so funny is that the figurine was a guy.....a prince of some sort. I really didn't see a resemblence other than maybe the hair. He's such a character! He is so sweet too. He has been saying his prayers on his own and they go something like this:

"Dear Henny Fadda, Tank tee fow dah day. Tank tee fow mine famy, fow mine Hemma and mine Madi and mine June and mine Dad and mine mom. Tank tee fow mine pophet and fow Desus. Help me be a good boeey, to toose dah wite. Help me to wisten to mine mom and mine dad. Keep me safe. In dah name of Desus Chist Amen.

He also wants to say his prayers at naptime. Sometimes over and over again. It never gets old.

Why I love life

Our Little Monkey

Cody James is our little monkey. He climbs on everything and has no fear what so ever. The other dayI was upstairs and I heard the phone ring. I knew it was a telemarketer or the wrong number because the phone rings a certain way because we have 2 different phone number assigned to our line. Anyway, I thought the answering machine picked up and then all of a sudden I hear Cody talking. I thought noway does he know how to push talk to say hello. He was having a full on conversation he kept sayng no one was home and other tid bits of info he probably shouldn't be giving to strangers. I came down stairs and he said "okay, bye-bye" and turned the phone off. Feel free Cody. He climbed back on the bar stool up on the counter and hung up the phone. Hmmm. Then yesturday Ryan was out back weed wacking...well he was suppose to be but he was talking to the neighbor over the fence. I had been upstairs, I came down and Cody was not out back...nowhere to be found....Ryan doesn't even know he is gone. My heart stopped when I noticed the side gate was open. Madi and I ran out front and I noticed the scooter in the middle of the road. I started to panic. Finally I see Cody at the top of the cul-de-sac riding his bike in his diaper. No shoes or clothes. Oh my gosh!! Are you kidding! How long had he been out there? I don't think longer than 5-8 minutes but that is to long. A lot can happen in that amount of time. CRAZY!! Then the other day I'm in the kitchen and I hear the garage door open and close but it was mid-day...just me cody and Emma. Where's Cody? what do ya know, he's in the garage in the van playing with the garage door opener. I know, I know.... you are all thinking I deserve the mother of the year award.

Cody is in the early stages of potty training. If he were asked the question "boxers or briefs" he would most likely answer "tighty spidey's" He got his first long awaited pack of underwear about a week or 2 ago. They didn't have any batman so he had to settle for glow in the dark spiderman undies. He looks so boy-ish now. Especially when he just lays on the couch in nothing but his "tighty spidey's" watching nothing other than disney channel. We love our little monkey.

Emma's not so little anymore!

"Dad, I can't believe I'm starting Pre-school tomorrow" called Emma from the front room window. Ryan was out washing his truck and Emma was bathed and ready for bed, in her little pink nightgown. She blew her Dad a kiss and told him to come tuck her in. This little moment will forever be etched in my mind. I said to Ryan just wait until she says "Dad, I can't believe I'm gettting married tomorrow" Oh, Man....he couldn't even bare the thought of it.

Emma was so excited for pre-school today. We pulled up to her school and she lead the way in doing her usual "strut" with her hair swaying from side to side. She felt so big and so cool. She had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Now she was like her big sister...going to school. we walked in the door and her teacher took a picture of her for her portfolio. Then she sat down and wrote her name on a piece of paper and one of the teachers said to her, "Did you write that?" she said yes. Then her teacher said let me see write it again.....she wrote it again and again and her teacher was in amazement at how well she could write her name. She was quite proud. So it came time to leave....time to take Madi to school and for Emma to get started so I called Emma over and gave her a hug and kiss and told her I'd be back in a little while to get her. There were other kids crying and kicking and I thought that would upset her but, Nope, she just went back to her seat to carry on. Madi and Cody and I walked out the door and Madi said I think her teachers will be nice to her and I turned to her and said "yeah, I think they will too" Then Madi said, "You're going to cry aren't you?" I said "no, but you are aren't you?" She said "no" I could tell Madi was worried about her baby sister. We got in the car and Madi said "wouldn't that be funny if that cat went into Emma's classroom?" with that random comment and the shakiness of her voice I knew she had tears. I looked in the rear view mirror and said "you ARE crying, what's the matter?" She said "It's just wierd to think Emma's in school. I like knowing she is home safe with you." Choking back the tears, I said "Don't worry she'll be fine" My heart melted at that very moment. I was so ready to break down but I knew if I started crying then I'd never get Madi to go to school. We lived through it. Madi got to school on time and composed. Cody and I went to Wal-mart after we dropped the girls off and the time went by really fast before I knew it, it was time to get Emma. When I walked in the door her teacher said "you never told me how smart she is" I said "I was pretty sure you'd notice" What a great day she had. They read 'The kissing hand' and they got kiss stamps on their hands. Emma came home and said "my teacher told us that whenever we miss our mom, to just kiss our hand and that will be like our mom thinking of us....let's just put it this way, I kissed my hand A LOT today" AWWW!! So cute. She told me all about her day...very detailed. From the new friends she met...to the boy sitting next to her that kept doing "stinky burps" Oh then she called Madi out on her bathroom advice. "Mom, Madi told me I'd probably need to go to the bathroom and that I was lucky to have a clean bathroom at my school but I didn't have to go after I saw the skid mark in the toilet, I guess Madi didn't see that." Oh, Emma You are so funny!!